April 8 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's personal envoy has arrived in Iran as part of a regional tour to back efforts towards "a comprehensive and durable resolution" to the Iran war, and is also expected to visit key mediator Pakistan, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
Jean Arnault will hear Iranian perspectives "on the way forward" and reiterate Guterres' commitment to support a peaceful settlement, a U.N. statement said.
Arnault also called on all leaders to "choose the path of peaceful resolution and the protection of civilians," it said.
The veteran U.N. diplomat, named as Guterres' envoy on the conflict last month, left for the Middle East on Monday but the United Nations has not detailed his itinerary.
U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said Arnault was in transit to Tehran and intended to meet government officials. He said Arnault was also expected to visit Pakistan, which facilitated the ceasefire, in coming days.
Haq noted that Guterres had welcomed the ceasefire between the United States and Iran, but the U.N. was concerned about fighting elsewhere.
"We urge all concerned to abide by the ceasefire," Haq told a regular U.N. briefing. "We are worried that any violence in part of the region may play the effect of spoiling the agreements that have been achieved for the rest of the region, so we want to make sure that all fighting, everywhere, is abated."
Haq said it would be up to the parties to the ceasefire to work out the terms of that and how it will be implemented.
"Obviously, our priority is making sure that the ceasefire lasts, that the fighting halts, and that there's freedom of movement of marine vessels in the Strait of Hormuz," he said, referring to the key energy shipping route blocked by Iran.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by David Ljunggren and Cynthia Osterman)
