Norway backs Pakistan mediation in US-Iran war during Islamabad talks
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- Espen Barth Eide became the first Norwegian foreign minister to visit Pakistan in a decade, holding delegation-level talks with Deputy PM Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on bilateral and regional issues.
- Eide endorsed Pakistan's mediation in the US-Iran war, calling it a "service to the world" and saying Norway was among the "clearest and earliest" Western voices to call the conflict a violation of international rules.
- Eide backed Iran's right to protect itself as a state while noting "significant disagreements on other issues," and framed the war as beginning with a "US-Israel attack on Iran" on February 28.
- Eide praised the recently signed Makkah defense pact between Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, noting Norway maintains "very good and close relations" with all three.
- Dar briefed Eide on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and the abeyance of the Indus Waters Treaty, with both sides identifying scope for cooperation in trade, investment, climate change, maritime affairs and education.
- Pakistan-Norway bilateral trade has seen a five-fold increase in Pakistan's IT exports, and both sides agreed to expedite finalization of pending agreements and MOUs.
Why it matters: Norway — a Western/NATO country — publicly labeled the US-Iran war a violation of international rules and endorsed Iran's right to self-defense, lending diplomatic weight to Pakistan's mediation push. Eide's simultaneous praise for the Pakistan-Turkiye-Saudi Arabia Makkah defense pact signals Western comfort with both the new alliance and Pakistan's expanding mediator role.
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