Islamabad, Pakistan – The country is ready to host talks between the United States and Iran amid US President Donald Trump’s claims that negotiations are ongoing between the two countries.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Islamabad is always willing to host talks if the parties want. He said Pakistan consistently supports dialogue and diplomacy. This helps promote peace and stability in the region.
Hours later, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted on X. He said Pakistan stands ready and honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks. These talks aim for a comprehensive settlement of the conflict.
Iran has flatly denied any such claims of holding any talks with the US, which contradicts Trump’s statement. However, several US and Israeli media outlets have revealed that Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkiye have been acting as messengers between Iran and the US in an effort to resolve the war in a manner that results in an off-ramp. Some reports suggest that Islamabad may emerge as a city where such a meeting may take place later this week. One includes Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Steve Witkoff, a US envoy, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. JD Vance may meet Ghalibaf, but he reject Trump’s claim and says the US wants to escape the problem with Israel.
Still, there are some confirmed facts. Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir spoke to President Trump on Sunday. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian the following day.
Fragile Diplomacy, Hardened Positions
The overall picture shows tentative but fragile diplomatic efforts. These efforts have stopped some military operations, but they do not yet form real talks.
Trump says the US and Iran have already reached “major points of agreement.” He suggests early steps toward resolving the US-Israel war on Iran.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed that Iran received messages through “friendly countries.” He said Iran responded according to its “principled positions.”
An Iranian government source spoke to state-affiliated Press TV. The source outlined Iran’s terms to end the war on Monday. Iran demands no future military action. It also wants all US military bases in the region closed. It calls for reparations from Washington and Tel Aviv. Iran also demands an end to regional conflicts involving its allies. It further calls for new rules on the use of the Strait of Hormuz.
The White House has refused to reveal any information about the discussions claimed to have taken place. “These are sensitive diplomatic discussions, and the US will not negotiate through the press,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Mehran Kamrava, a Georgetown University in Qatar professor and Iranian Studies Unit director at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, said: “It’s a pattern. Trump’s approach to Iran.”
Washington, he contended, has depended on supported military and financial weight to drive Tehran to arrange on US terms, a procedure that has however to succeed.
He said this matches Trump’s reliance on gunboat strategy. Trump believes he can pressure and force Iranians into negotiations. However, Iran has resisted this pressure. It has not responded to threats in the way the Americans expected. He told Al Jazeera that Iran continues to push back.
Part of the clarification for the Iranian refusal to capitulate to Trump’s weight, investigators say, is auxiliary. Trita Parsi, official bad habit president of the Quincy Institute for Dependable Statecraft, contended that the war had — incomprehensibly — reinforced Iran’s position on the key issue of sanctions.
Sanctions Relief and War Fatigue Shape Push for Negotiations
“The reality is that the war has given Iran de facto sanctions alleviation. Iran is trading more oil presently than some time recently the war at twice the price,” he told Al Jazeera, alluding to the Trump administration’s choice, final week, to lift sanctions on Iranian oil as of now on pontoons out at sea. “It has use, and it will not concur to conclude the war without formalizing sanctions relief.”
That, he included, is absolutely what Washington shows up hesitant to offer. “I am not seeing signs in the US that Trump is completely prepared for genuine strategy, since it will have to involve sanctions help for Iran.”
Khalid Masood, a previous Pakistani negotiator and emissary to China, said weight to discover an exit was in any case mounting on all sides.
“The US has moreover figured it out there are limits to difficult control, you can be effective and still not accomplish everything in your favour,” he said. “There is war weariness, with territorial and worldwide aftermath, and US partners are feeling it. When you put all of this in setting, one comes to the conclusion that the US is presently sharp on a few kind of arrangement,” Masood told Al Jazeera.
Dania Thafer, official chief of the Inlet Universal Gathering, in any case, encouraged caution. Any settlement, she said, would require supported and seriously diplomacy.
“Iran, for its portion, may too look for to impose adequate costs to fortify long-term discouragement, and it is not clear that it accepts this objective has been met,”
War heightening and worldwide stakes
Last year, fighting lasted for 12 days, and this year saw months of saber-rattling. The latest war on Iran began on February 28 when the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes. The strikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and many other senior officials. This happened one day after Oman’s foreign minister announced that a breakthrough was within reach.
Iran reacted with supported rocket and ramble assaults on Israel, US bases, and civilian infrastructure in the Gulf states.
The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that the current crisis exceeds the combined oil emergencies of 1973 and 1979. The Strait of Hormuz carries about one-fifth of global crude oil, and it has remained effectively closed since the war began. In recent days, Iran has allowed some tankers from India, Pakistan, China, and Turkiye to pass through. Iran is also negotiating with other countries, including Japan, to permit their vessels to use the narrow waterway.
Trump had at first declared a 48-hour final proposal for Iran to revive the strait or confront strikes on its control plants, which was due to lapse on Monday night. Hours some time recently that, he declared a five-day stop on those assaults, which will conclusion on Saturday.
Even as strategy shows up to have kicked in, the Pentagon quickened organizations to the Inlet. The USS Boxer Land and water capable Prepared Bunch and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit were moved from California three weeks some time recently schedule.
The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit on board the USS Tripoli is as of now en course from Japan. The US is too weighing choices, counting seizing Kharg Island, which handles almost 90 percent of Iran’s unrefined trades, and sending ground strengths to secure Tehran’s improved uranium stockpiles.
The US has as of now struck military establishments on Kharg Island, caution that basic oil offices seem be focused on if Iran proceeds to square the strait.
Masood said the parallel military build-up was deliberate.
“The US is still moving the Marines, which signals that if the talks do not work out, it seem lead to something,” he said.
“Israel needs the activity to proceed and is likely despondent with the talks. The Israelis might well play the part of spoiler. If this handle does not reach a conclusion, at that point the US and Israel will resort to drive, which would be profoundly unfortunate.”
Pakistan’s Diplomatic Initiative
Pakistan’s part in the current dispute draws on a set of connections built over time.
When Munir went to the White House for an unusual lunch meeting with Trump in June 2025, Trump hosted a Pakistani military chief who was not the president for the first time. Trump said openly that Pakistan knows Iran very well, better than most.
The assembly, which endured more than two hours, included talks of rising Israel-Iran tensions.
Ahead of final year’s strikes, Munir moreover voyage to Iran nearby Sharif, assembly senior Iranian officials.
Pakistan’s Unique Position Strengthens Role in US-Iran Mediation
Since the war started in February, Islamabad has kept up its outreach. On Walk 3, Outside Serve Dar told parliament that Pakistan was “ready to encourage exchange between Washington and Tehran in Islamabad”.
In the same address, Dar uncovered that Pakistan had pushed back against Washington’s request for zero uranium enhancement, instep proposing a checked system. “It was concurred that there ought to be reconnaissance of two to three nations, and Iran was cheerful with that,” he said.
Pakistan’s use lies in a uncommon combination of ties. It is the as it were Muslim-majority nation with atomic weapons and does not have US military bases.
It keeps up longstanding ties with Saudi Arabia, dating back to 1947, strengthened by a vital resistance settlement marked in September 2025. At the same time, it offers a 900km (560-mile) border with Iran and has the world’s second-largest Shia Muslim populace.
Pakistan’s Growing Diplomatic Credibility in Iran-US Mediation
Iran’s modern preeminent pioneer, Mojtaba Khamenei, as of late referenced Pakistan in a message stamping the Persian Unused Year, Nowruz, saying he had a “special feeling” towards its people.
Masood said these covering connections provide Islamabad credibility.
“Pakistan’s significance, moreover, stems from its standing as a major Islamic nation with impressive validity. It has ties with the Inlet, with Saudi Arabia, and with Iran; everyone is open to Pakistan playing a interceding role,” he said. “Iran has freely lauded us, and in that sense, Pakistan is well-placed to make a positive contribution.”
Former negotiator Salman Bashir said intercession moreover serves Pakistan’s possess interests.
“Pakistan’s relations with the Trump organization have been exceptionally great, and we have been talking to Iran as well,” he said. “It would be exceptionally much in our interest, since we may be influenced by this conflict.”
Quincy Institute’s Parsi concurred Pakistan is well-positioned but cautioned that timing remains critical.
He says Pakistan is well-positioned to help develop the strategy, but the conflict must be ready for mediation. He says it does not seem ready yet, but it is important to start diplomacy before the right moment arrives.
Territorial elements and limits of mediation
The basis for the most recent political thrust was laid in Riyadh final week, when Saudi Arabia gathered an crisis assembly of outside priests from 12 Middle easterner and Islamic nations, counting Pakistan and Turkiye.
The assembly delivered a joint articulation condemning Iran’s assaults on Inlet countries’ framework and asserting their right to self-defence.
Saudi Outside Serve Sovereign Faisal container Farhan Al Saud cautioned that Riyadh’s tolerance was not boundless and that the kingdom “reserves the right to take military activity if regarded necessary”.
On the sidelines, the remote priests of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkiye too held a partitioned coordination assembly, the to begin with in that arrange, and a few Pakistani sources say Islamabad’s development as a potential scene for discourse between the US and Iran stems from that assembly.
Regional Divisions and Israel’s Stance Complicate Mediation Efforts
In the interim, the Inlet states, which have been focused on by Iran, have outstandingly remained out of formal mediation.
Thafer of the Inlet Universal Gathering said the calculus was improbable to move until the assaults on Inlet nations stopped.
She said some Gulf states would require an end to threats against their countries 1st. They would only then take on any major mediation role. If a country like Pakistan helps achieve that result, Gulf capitals would view it positively.
Kamrava recognized Israel as a central impediment, indeed in spite of the fact that the US and the Inlet Participation Chamber (GCC) were willing to conclusion the war on Iran.
Conflicting Interests of Israel, US and Iran Shape Peace Prospects
“Israel does not need an conclusion to the war and does not need the US to arrange with Iran, straightforwardly or through middle people like Pakistan,” he said. “The GCC and the US need the war to conclusion, and conclusion before long, and subsequently welcome it.”
On the limits of intercession, he was limit. “No one can compel Iran to arrange. It appears that Iran has the genuine use here through its rocket capabilities.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Trump on Monday about the talks. He said the US president sees an opportunity to use the gains made by US and Israeli forces in Iran. He believes they can achieve war goals through a deal. The deal would protect their key interests.
However, he halted brief of supporting the talks and made clear that Israeli strikes in Iran would proceed regardless.
Parsi said territorial on-screen characters would require to apply weight on Washington as well as Tehran.
“Trump has in the past appeared that he tunes in when territorial players display their position as a bloc,” he said. “Israel will without a doubt look for to disrupt any such endeavors, though.”
Masood, the ex-Pakistani ambassador, in any case, saw a meeting of interests.
“I think everyone ought to need this to succeed,” he said. “The Israelis have taken a critical hit in the final few weeks, so there would be a common intrigued among all parties in finding an off-ramp and an road for de-escalation.”
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