Walking the Tightrope Between Tehran and Riyadh |
Donald Trump threatened Iran with another strike, then called it off within hours — at the request, he said, of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. He now says talks resume today. Tehran says the opposite: no negotiations are under way, and it isn’t even Iran that asked for the pause, whatever Trump claims. Yet Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has spoken twice in the past 24 hours with Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. So the real diplomacy is clearly happening, just not where either government wants it seen. Neither Washington nor Tehran can afford to look like it needs the other, so both are working through intermediaries instead — a way to edge toward de-escalation without anyone having to publicly climb down.
Pakistan’s problem is that this mediating role doesn’t come free. Islamabad isn’t just a channel between Iran and the US; it’s also bound to Saudi Arabia by a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement signed in September 2025, under which an attack on either country counts as an attack on both.
That leaves Pakistan trying to be two things at once — a mediator Tehran trusts, and a defence partner Riyadh can call on. The access that makes it useful is the same thing that could make its position untenable the moment a real crisis hits.
That leaves Pakistan trying to be two things at once — a mediator Tehran trusts, and a defence partner Riyadh can call on. The access that makes it useful is the same thing that could make its position untenable the moment a real crisis hits.
Yemen is where that crisis is most........