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Iran's foreign minister is in Pakistan on a critically timed visit amid a crisis between Tehran and Washington and ahead of next week's emergency Arab League meeting called by Saudi Arabia as regional tensions escalate.

Mohammad Javad Zarif was holding talks on Friday with his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Ahead of his arrival in Islamabad, Pakistan's foreign ministry had called on "all sides to show restraint, as any miscalculated move, can transmute into a large-scale conflict."

Tensions have ratcheted up in recent months and the U.S. sent additional warships and B-52 bombers to the Gulf.

Pakistan walks a fine line with neighboring Iran, despite their sometimes prickly relationship, and ally Saudi Arabia, which this week announced a $3.2 billion deferred oil and gas payment package for energy-strapped Islamabad.