CAIRO / ISLAMABAD — In a major diplomatic gathering on Sunday, June 21, 2026, the foreign ministers of the Regional Four (R-4) bloc—comprising Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Egypt—convened in Cairo to formally welcome the signing of the historic Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran.
The high-level ministerial summit coincided with crucial parallel diplomacy, as Pakistan and co-mediator Qatar simultaneously hosted American and Iranian delegations in Switzerland for technical talks aimed at finalizing the operational details of the pact. In a joint statement released by Pakistan’s Foreign Office, the R-4 nations hailed the Islamabad MoU as a critical breakthrough for global stability. The ministers noted that defusing the Middle East conflict directly mitigates severe risks previously posed to global energy markets, international maritime trade routes, and global supply chains.
The R-4 framework explicitly lauded Pakistan’s instrumental mediation role and praised Qatar’s vital support in bringing the hostile parties to the negotiating table. Looking ahead, the alliance emphasized the urgency of securing a swift, verifiable, and lasting resolution to all remaining disputes in the upcoming phase of negotiations. The ministers asserted that future talks must safeguard the security matrices of Gulf Arab states and the Levant region. Crucially, the joint text reaffirmed the centrality of the Palestinian cause to Middle East stability, demanding an immediate end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, while reiterating support for an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
On the sidelines of the summit, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, alongside his R-4 counterparts, called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. During the meeting, Dar conveyed official greetings from Pakistan’s civil and military leadership, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. President El-Sisi highly commended Pakistan’s responsible diplomatic engagement and formally accepted an invitation from PM Shehbaz to visit Islamabad. Following the conclusion of the Cairo summit, the Foreign Office confirmed that FM Dar departed Egypt for a brief transit stop in Medina before returning to Pakistan.
