Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif deleted a series of social media posts calling Israel a “curse for humanity” on Friday after the comments sparked a diplomatic crisis and threatened US-Iran ceasefire talks hosted in Islamabad. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif forced Asif to remove the inflammatory remarks as Jerusalem issued a blistering response. The incident jeopardizes Pakistan’s positioning as a neutral mediator in historic peace negotiations, with officials scrambling to contain damage just as the country seeks to establish itself as a regional peacemaker.
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