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RAWALPINDI: Pakistan\u2019s military is \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about its mediation between Iran and the United States, its spokesman said on Friday in his \u200bfirst interview since a high-level delegation visited Tehran this week.<\/strong><\/p>\n Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir \u2014 Pakistan\u2019s chief mediator in its efforts to \u200cde-escalate the now eight-month-old Iran war \u2014 has been to Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday alongside Saudi and Turkish officials.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course,\u201d spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said when asked whether the trips were a positive sign.<\/p>\n \u201cThe word \u200bthat we would use is always cautiously optimistic,\u201d added Chaudhry, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations.<\/p>\n There were still \u201cpowerful spoilers and detractors,\u201d who believed \u200bconflict serves them, he added without naming them.<\/p>\n Speaking in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan\u2019s armed forces are headquartered, \u2060DG ISPRdeclined to say what was discussed or whether the United States had backed the trip.<\/p>\n Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief \u200bIbrahim Kalin joined Field Marshal in Tehran on Monday.<\/p>\n Their two countries signed a joint defence pact with Pakistan on August 7, saying an attack on any signatory will \u200bbe treated as an attack on all.<\/p>\n The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement has taken on added significance as the Iran war has redrawn regional alliances and raised fears of a broader Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n While the three signatories say the agreement is aimed at collective deterrence and regional security, analysts see its evolution as closely tied to efforts by regional powers to manage \u200bthe fallout from the Iran-US confrontation.<\/p>\n After Monday\u2019s talks, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council, said regional security should be ensured by regional \u200bcountries without foreign intervention.<\/p>\n The wording of the pact does not bar new members, DG ISPR said on Friday when asked whether Iran could join.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who has a shared vision of collective \u200cdeterrence and \u2060regional peace, why not? Everyone is most welcome,\u201d he said, adding that it was for the political leadership of the three principal parties to decide.<\/p>\n Asked whether more Pakistani troops were being sent to Saudi Arabia under the agreement, Chaudhry said that would depend on the situation and the decision of both countries\u2019 political leadership.<\/p>\n He said Pakistan was committed to defending Saudi Arabia and the holy sites of Mecca and Medina. \u201cWe are not part of the Yemeni conflict, which is an \u200bintra-Yemen conflict,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Fighting between Saudi \u200bArabia and Yemen\u2019s Iran-aligned Houthi group \u2060has been reignited by the Iran conflict, stoking fears of a wider war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nPACT DOES NOT BAR NEW MEMBERS<\/h2>\n