Why Pakistan Is Mediating Between US And Iran

Since Washington and Tehran agreed to an initial 14-day ceasefire on Tuesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and powerful army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir have been sharing messages about talks with world leaders and emphasizing their mediating roles. President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to Munir as “my favorite marshal” since last year, when he brokered a ceasefire between Pakistan and India.

It is not often that Islamabad is asked to act as an intermediary in high-stakes diplomacy, but this time it stepped into the role for a variety of reasons, as it has relatively good ties with both Washington and Tehran and has a lot at stake in resolving the war.

Pakistani government officials said the public peace efforts followed weeks of quiet diplomacy, although they offered few details. The talks are expected to be held in Islamabad on Saturday, following the arrival of both delegations. Pakistan has increased security across the city with additional troops and police.

Here’s what you need to know about Pakistan’s mediation effort:

Pakistan helped the US present a 15-point initial plan to Iran. Pakistan’s role in the Iran-US negotiations came to light following media reports a few weeks ago. Officials in Islamabad later acknowledged that the US offer had been conveyed to Iran.

It remains unclear who served as Iran’s point of contact in indirect talks.

According to Pakistani officials, US messages are conveyed to Iran, and Iran’s responses are conveyed to Washington, but it is not specified how the process is carried out or who communicates directly with whom. He said Pakistan, Türkiye and Egypt were also working behind the scenes to bring the parties to the negotiating table.

Final US ultimatum and announcement of the agreement But days passed with no signs of progress. Last weekend, Trump stepped up his threats, giving Iran what appeared to be a deadline, saying that if Tehran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday, “the entire country could be wiped out.” That same day he also said “an entire civilization will die tonight” and added, “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

Pakistan and other countries were already working behind the scenes to reach an agreement and prevent tensions from escalating.

Then, before the deadline, Sharif tweeted: “With the utmost humility, I am pleased to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, together with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire.” The USA and Iran also confirmed this.

Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council responsible for South Asia, said Pakistan can show the world that it is an “effective regional actor” through its mediation work.

“Islamabad may also enjoy a degree of vindication: for defying skeptics who thought it could not pull off such a feat,” he wrote in Foreign Policy magazine this week.

Relations with both the US and Iran are preparing Pakistan for a new role Previous US-Iran negotiations were facilitated by countries in the Middle East, including Oman and Qatar, but when these countries came under fire from Iran, Pakistan stepped into this role.

Analysts say Pakistan’s geographic proximity to one of its neighbors, Iran, combined with its long-standing ties with the United States, gives it a unique position at a time when direct communication between the two sides is limited.

Islamabad also has close strategic ties with Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, with which it signed a defense cooperation agreement last year. However, due to Palestine’s statehood issue, Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

Relations between the United States and Pakistan have improved since last year, with increased diplomatic relations and expanded economic ties. Islamabad also participated in Trump’s Peace Board, which aims to achieve peace in Gaza despite opposition from Islamists within the country.

Pakistan has many interests in ceasefire talks Islamabad-based security analyst Syed Mohammad Ali said the conflict had presented some of the “biggest economic and energy security challenges” in Pakistan’s history.

The country gets most of its oil and gas from the Middle East, and he said the 5 million Pakistanis working in the Arab world send remittances back home each year roughly equal to the country’s total export earnings.

Rising tensions have already contributed to rising global oil prices, forcing Pakistan to raise fuel prices by nearly 20% and putting pressure on Sharif’s government.

The war is also increasing civil unrest as Pakistan has been grappling with its own conflict with neighboring Afghanistan for months. Islamabad accused the country’s Taliban government of tolerating militant groups behind attacks in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, protests broke out across the country following US attacks on Iran, and demonstrators clashed with security forces in many cities. At least 22 people were killed and more than 120 people were injured in the clashes that broke out in Karachi after the USA and Israel attacked Iran and killed the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 12 more people lost their lives after a gang tried to attack the US Consulate in Karachi on March 1.

Khamenei was a central religious and political figure for Shiites worldwide, including Pakistan.

Pakistan has a history of mediation Pakistan’s then-President, General Yahya Khan, facilitated back-channel contacts that led to US President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972. This paved the way for the establishment of diplomatic ties between Washington and Beijing in 1979.

Since then, Pakistan has played a role in many other complex regional conflicts, most notably the 1988 Geneva Accords that paved the way for the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Acting as a frontline state and key interlocutor, Islamabad has participated in UN-brokered negotiations while working closely with the United States and other stakeholders, helping to increase pressure on Moscow to withdraw its forces.

More recently, Pakistan facilitated contacts between the Afghan Taliban and Washington, which led to talks in Doha that resulted in an agreement in 2020, paving the way for the withdrawal of US-led NATO troops and the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.