IRNA -- Pakistan says it has excellent relations with Iran and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is the only Foreign Minister to have visited the country twice in the last four months.

�As far as our relations with Iran are concerned, we have excellent relations,� Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said at media briefing while responding to a query about Iran-Pakistan ties.

�The sanctions remain, as they have in the past. There is no impact of these sanctions on Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations,� he said.

The spokesman said that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit Qatar from January 21-22.

�Issues of mutual interest will be discussed during the visit. The prime minister will discuss the import of manpower by Qatar from Pakistan,� he said.

To another question he said Pakistan has facilitated the direct talks between the United States and Taliban and is convinced that an intra-Afghan dialogue is crucial to peace and stability in the war-torn country.

The spokesperson said Pakistan has always maintained that the solution to the Afghan conflict lies in an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.

He said Pakistan will continue to support and facilitate Afghan peace process in good faith and as shared responsibility.

Faisal said the ongoing visit of US Special Envoy on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad to Islamabad after Kabul is also part of the same reconciliation process. The spokesperson, however, did not confirm the reports of arrest of a senior Taliban military commander Hafiz Mohibullah in Peshawar.