Pakistan to host talks Monday on Mideast war: govt source

Pakistan will host talks next week with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey on the war in the Middle East, a senior foreign ministry official told AFP on Saturday.

"We will host a quadrilateral meeting on Monday," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the exact representation was not yet confirmed.

Delegations are expected to arrive in Pakistan by Sunday evening, the official added.

Pakistan has emerged as a key facilitator between Iran and the United States as the conflict drags on, serving as an intermediary for messages between the two sides.

Islamabad has longstanding links with Tehran and close contacts in the Gulf, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Amin Munir have struck up a personal rapport with US President Donald Trump.

Ankara's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the private A Haber broadcaster that the meeting was initially planned to be held in Turkey.

"However, since our Pakistani counterparts are required to remain in their country, we moved the meeting to Pakistan," he said late on Friday.

"It is possible that we will meet there this weekend," he added.

Fidan had said the talks would involve the foreign ministers of the four Muslim-majority countries.

Earlier on Friday, Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he expected a direct US-Iran meeting in Pakistan "very soon", without revealing his source.

While Tehran has refused to admit to holding official talks with Washington, Iran has passed a response to US President Donald Trump's 15-point plan to end the war via Islamabad, according to an anonymous source cited by the Iranian Tasnim press agency.