Pakistan Could Be a U.S.-Iran Peace Broker |
Foreign & Public Diplomacy
Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.
The highlights this week: Pakistan presents itself as a potential mediator in the Iran war, after a brief cease-fire the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict resumes, and Nepal’s new government prepares to take office.
Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.
The highlights this week: Pakistan presents itself as a potential mediator in the Iran war, after a brief cease-fire the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict resumes, and Nepal’s new government prepares to take office.
Pakistan the Peace Broker?
Axios and the Financial Times have reported that Pakistan is actively engaged in mediation efforts between the United States and Iran, with Pakistani leaders speaking separately with U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier this week. Pakistan may even host talks with senior U.S. and Iranian officials in Islamabad in the coming days.
Pakistan might seem an unlikely mediator. It has a deep alliance with Iran’s rival Saudi Arabia, capped with a mutual defense pact last year. It is bogged down with its own conflict with Afghanistan. And Pakistan has no track record of mediating complex Middle East conflicts—unlike China, for example, which contributed to Iranian-Saudi reconciliation in 2023.
But in fact, a mediation role for Pakistan makes sense: It’s a rare country that has warm ties with both the United States and Iran and is engaged with the highest levels of both governments.
Islamabad’s ties with Tehran have come a long way since January 2024, when the two engaged in a brief violent conflict over cross-border militancy. In the last year, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army chief Asim Munir have held multiple meetings with top Iranian leaders in Iran and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Sharif and Munir have met with Trump as well, including a lunch hosted for Munir at the White House last June—soon after the Pakistani official returned from a trip to Tehran before the brief Iran-Israel conflict. Afterward, Trump told the media that Pakistanis “know Iran very well, better than most.”
A few weeks later, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Pakistan for its willingness to play a role as mediator with Iran. Trump, who has repeatedly........