Now the big question: Why has Pakistan offered mediation?

On the morning of February 28, 2026, as the first damage assessments from ‘Operation Epic Fury’, named by the US, were still coming in, Pakistan’s worst nightmare was yet to come. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was dead. Iranian missile sites were burning. And the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas moves every day, was effectively closed.

In the days that followed, fuel prices climbed sharply across Pakistani cities. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered sweeping austerity measures as the Iran war triggered an oil crisis, and Islamabad’s military leadership, already fighting Afghan Taliban forces, was confronting what a destabilised Iran on its western border would actually mean.

In the next few weeks, Pakistan emerged as the most active diplomatic player in the conflict, passing messages between Washington and Tehran, offering Islamabad as a neutral venue for talks, and positioning Field Marshal Asim Munir as the back-channel bridge between Trump and a fractured Iranian leadership.

According to a report by TRT World, Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator to end the US-Israel war on Iran, with a summit said to be on the cards.

What is happening in the Iran-US war?

The US-Israeli campaign, launched on February 28, targeted Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, IRGC command centres, and political leadership simultaneously. Israel and the US carried out extensive attacks across Iran in the conflict’s opening phase. Khamenei was killed in the opening hours, according to multiple reports.

Iran hit back hard. Retaliatory strikes have hit Gulf infrastructure and threatened shipping lanes. Al Jazeera documented immense damage in Iran’s streets after continued airstrikes, with the conflict entering its 26th day as of March 25.

Iranian missiles have triggered alerts across central and southern Israel, including near Dimona, home to Israel’s long-suspected atomic weapons programme, though no casualties were reported in the latest volleys, according to the Associated Press.

For Pakistan, which shares a 900-kilometre border with Iran, none of this is abstract.

Pakistan’s three-front tensions

Pakistan’s military was already stretched before this war began. In May 2025, India launched Operation Sindoor, a punitive air and missile campaign targeting what New Delhi described as terror camps in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir and other parts of Pakistan.

Then, in February 2026, Pakistan’s ties with the Afghan Taliban collapsed entirely. The Pakistan Air Force launched strikes on Taliban military positions in Kabul and Kandahar in retaliation for alleged persistent cross-border terrorism by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Analysts caution that if Iran destabilises further, refugees and militants could flood across Balochistan’s already volatile border, something Pakistan’s overstretched army is ill-equipped to handle. From this perspective, Pakistan’s mediation is motivated less by diplomatic ambition than by urgent security imperatives.

Energy crisis forcing Pakistan to get involved

When Operation Epic Fury killed Supreme Leader Khamenei on February 28 and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, Pakistan’s economy went into immediate crisis. More than 85 per cent of Pakistan’s energy transits the Strait. The government imposed a four-day work week and emergency school closures almost immediately. Oil hit $104 a barrel. LNG stocks are running out.

At the same time, Pakistan’s military is already stretched across two active border conflicts, a volatile standoff with India to the east, and an ongoing fight against Afghan Taliban forces to the west. A destabilised Iran on a third border, Islamabad cannot afford now.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Tuesday on X that “Pakistan welcomes and fully supports ongoing efforts to pursue dialogue to end the WAR in Middle East, in the interest of peace and stability in region and beyond.”

He continued, “Subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict. Sharif spoke Monday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and “underscored the urgent need to work collectively for de-escalation and a return to dialogue and diplomacy,” according to a readout from the Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry, the NBC reported.

That access exists because of Field Marshal Asim Munir’s personal rapport with Trump, built during the 2025 India-Pakistan crisis. On the Iranian side, Pakistan has hosted Iran’s diplomatic interests section inside its Washington embassy since 1992, making it Tehran’s only institutional back-channel to the US, according to Iran International.

By Wednesday, the AP confirmed Pakistan had delivered a 15-point US ceasefire proposal to Iran. The 15-point plan now in Iranian hands is “a comprehensive deal” to reach a ceasefire, according to the Egyptian official. Mediators are pushing for possible in-person talks between the Iranians and the Americans, perhaps as soon as Friday in Pakistan, the Egyptian and Pakistani officials said, the AP added.

Speaking Tuesday at the White House, Trump said the US is “in negotiations right now” and that the participants included special envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. He has not said who from Iran they are in contact with.

“We have a number of people doing it,” Trump said. “And the other side, I can tell you, they’d like to make a deal.”

Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which commands both the regular military and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, dismissed the idea of talks. Iranian leaders have repeatedly denied they are happening, while acknowledging that the foreign minister is in contact with various countries but not the US or Israel.

(With inputs from agencies)