ISLAMABAD  – Pakistan condemned on Sunday the strikes ordered on its neighbor Iran by Donald Trump, a day after Islamabad had said it would nominate the U.S. President for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pakistan on Sunday said Trump’s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities violated international law and that diplomacy was the only way to resolve the Iran crisis.

“The unprecedented escalation of tension and violence, owing to ongoing aggression against Iran is deeply disturbing. Any further escalation of tensions will have severely damaging implications for the region and beyond,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Also on Sunday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif telephoned Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and “conveyed Pakistan’s condemnation of the U.S. attacks,” a statement from the Pakistani leader said.

Pakistan’s information minister and the foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the apparent contradiction in the country’s positions over the weekend.

In Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, thousands marched in protest against the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

A large American flag with a picture of Trump on it was placed on the road for demonstrators to walk over. The protesters shouted out chants against America, Israel and Pakistan’s regional enemy India.

Pakistan on Saturday said it was nominating Trump as “a genuine peacemaker” for his role in bringing a four-day conflict with India to an end last month. It said he had “demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship”.

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(Reporting by Saeed Shah in Islamabad; editing by Barbara Lewis)