January 19, The Iran Project - Touching upon US unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Pak�Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said at a media briefing that the sanctions remain as they have in the past, adding there is no impact of these sanctions on Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations.

Responding to a query about Iran-Pakistan ties, he noted that, "As far as our relations with Iran are concerned, we have excellent relations�and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is the only Foreign Minister to have visited the country twice in the last four months."

Meanwhile, Iranian Ambassador to Islamabad Mehdi Honardoust underlined that Iran and Pakistan play a pivotal role in restoring peace and stability to the region.

He said that "Tehran and Islamabad through their close cooperation are moving forward to bring peace to the region, especially their neighboring Afghanistan."

In relevant remarks last week, former Pakistani Foreign Minister and senior politician Hina Rabbani Khar underscored Iran�s important role and capabilities to resolve regional problems, especially in Afghanistan.

In another development,�the Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammad Rafiei, announced that a free trade zone would open at Mirjaveh crossing point in a few days in a bid to increase economic relations between the two sides.

The Iranian official said the free trade zone would open between Iran and Pakistan soon and Iran would sell oil to Pakistan with low prices.

, Accordingly, the two sides agreed that trade transactions between Iran and Pakistan would directly benefit their people, and increase the current trade volume to $5 billion.

Following President Trump exit from the 2015�Iran nuclear deal in May, Washington in November announced re-imposition of the �toughest� sanctions ever against Iran in an attempt to curtail the country�s oil exports and put extra pressure on its economy.