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Pakistan as Peacemaker Facilitates the US-Iran Ceasefire

The U.S. appears to have set aside its ambition of pursuing regime change in Iran, as it is now negotiating directly with the system it sought to replace.

US President Donald Trump with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) and Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir at the White House in Washington, D.C., September 26, 2025.

Just hours before Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed deadline, and threat to end Iranian civilization as we know it, Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts created the conditions for a two-week ceasefire. Both Iran and the United States have agreed to this pause and committed to good-faith negotiations to end the war.

I wonder whether Donald Trump fully appreciated that acting on his threat — presumably using nuclear weapons — would have entailed not only the destruction of Iran, but also irreversible damage to Western civilization. The use of nuclear weapons would raise a fundamental question: what would remain of the West in the aftermath of such an act?

To give him the benefit of the doubt, one might assume the threat was made in the context of ongoing, high-stakes diplomatic efforts, particularly those in which Pakistan was actively engaged. The statement may have been intended as coercive leverage, designed to pressure Iran into setting aside key disagreements and agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at the outset of negotiations rather than as an outcome. In that sense, this ceasefire removes the threat not only to Iranian civilization but to Western civilization as well.

It is striking that a role one might have expected India to play — given its strong relations with all parties involved — was instead assumed by Pakistan. India stands with Israel, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on February 25. It has a comprehensive strategic partnership with the United States, longstanding civilizational ties with Iran, and deep defense and trade collaboration with the UAE and much of the Gulf. India, therefore, appeared well-positioned to act as a catalyst for peace.

Yet it was Pakistan that stepped forward and delivered this ceasefire. The agreement halts the destruction that Iran, the Gulf states, and Israel have endured over the past five weeks, and provides critical relief to the global economy — especially economies that depend on oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Three Statements That Shaped the Ceasefire

The terms of this ceasefire are best understood through three official statements posted on social media: one by Shehbaz Sharif, followed by Donald Trump, and then by Seyed Abbas Araghchi.

Sharif appeals to Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks to allow space for negotiations. He calls upon “Iranian brothers” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for the same period and urges all parties to observe a ceasefire to give diplomacy a genuine opportunity, an appeal that can reasonably be read as addressing Israel as well.

In his Truth Social post, Trump begins by acknowledging both Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir, underscoring Pakistan’s centrality as a diplomatic actor. He states that, following conversations with Pakistani leadership, he has decided to hold back further destructive action, explicitly conditional on Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, in exchange for which the United States will suspend its bombing campaign for two weeks. This emphasis is understandable: oil prices had surged to approximately $112 before the ceasefire and subsequently fell around 20 percent to roughly $92.

Trump also reveals that the United States has received a ten-point proposal from Iran, which it considers a workable basis for negotiations. In response to an earlier fifteen-point proposal from Washington, Tehran presented its own ten-point framework, which Trump has accepted as the starting point for talks. He further suggests that many previously contentious issues have, in........

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