Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan warned the Trump administration of the potential consequences of a military strike targeting Iran.

Khan spoke to an audience of U.S. policymakers, scholars and diplomats at the U.S. Institute of Peace following talks with President Donald Trump in his first visit to the United States as prime minister.

Responding to a question during his appearance at the US think-tank funded by the US Congress, Khan said, "My worry about Iran is, I'm not sure whether all the countries realize the gravity of the situation if there's a conflict with Iran."

The cricketer-turned politician cautioned that a war with Iran will not be the same as the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"This could be much, much, much worse. It could unleash terrorism, which - people would forget Al-Qaida. The battle might be quite short if it goes ahead, bombing airfields and so on. But the consequences after that, my worry is that not many people fully understand it. And I would strongly urge that there should not be another military situation."

Khan said Pakistan was ready to "do anything" to defuse the tension in US-Iran relations.

He said his government already suggested this to Iran, which was willing to accept Islamabad's mediation until recently. "But then, somehow I felt that Iran is getting very desperate," Imran Khan said, without explaining.

He suggested that the Iranian regime should not be pushed into a situation where it leads to a conflict.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps had shot down an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone last month, alleging that it violated Iranian airspace for spying.

But US denied the allegation, and said that the aircraft was attacked in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz.

An open war between the United States and Iran was averted after Trump changed his decision at the last minute to order a military attack on the Islamic nation in retaliation for targeting its drone.

Talking about Afghanistan, Imran Khan said his government will not interfere in that country's internal matters based on concern amongst the Pakistani military establishment that "if Afghanistan was also in the Indian sphere of influence, then Pakistan would be sandwiched between these two."

Nearly a year in office, the Pak Prime Minister said his main challenge was inheriting a country which was bankrupt due to corruption.

The prime minister visited USIP following talks with Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Khan, who went to the Capitol on Tuesday to meet top American lawmakers, said it was time to reset the relationship between the two countries, based on trust and mutual respect..

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