(IRNA) - Iran and Pakistan here Wednesday discussed latest developments in the region as well as issues of mutual interest during a meeting between Pakistani Ambassador to Tehran Iqbal Shafkat Saeed and Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar.
Najjar pointed to Iran's principled policy on expansion of ties with Islamic states, particularly with neighbors, and said Iran's and Pakistan's strategic location, cultural and historical commonalties and long joint borders are among the factors that bolster mutual relations, reports Trend.
"A serious attention to bilateral potentials can be the starting point for productive cooperation and interaction between Tehran and Islamabad," he said.
The minister moreover said that the brutal attacks of the Zionist regime on the oppressed Palestinian and Lebanese peoples violate all international laws and regulations.
"If Islamic states do not act to stop the inhuman acts of the Zionist regime, this tragedy will continue," he said.
The ambassador, for his part, expressed his country's readiness to consolidate wide-ranging ties with Iran.
Pointing to the many commonalties enjoyed by Iran and Pakistan, he said security, progress and development between the two countries are linked with each other.
He expressed Pakistan's opposition to the interference of foreign forces in regional issues and crises, and stressed the importance of reinforcing unity and cooperation among Islamic states to settle crises in the region.
He extended an official invitation from the Pakistani defense minister for the latter's Iranian counterpart to attend an international defense exhibition slated to be held in Islamabad and hoped Iran's active presence in the exhibition and presentation of defense capabilities would lay the groundwork for bolstering of defense cooperation between the two countries.