How Pakistan scored ‘biggest diplomatic victory in years’ with Iran ceasefire | US-Israel war against Iran

QAkistan’s leaders have almost lost hope. After more than two weeks of furious negotiations, phone calls and diplomatic summits to try to end the US-Israeli war with Iran, it looked like the conflict could escalate instead in Islamabad’s worst nightmare.

In a cabinet meeting held around 5pm on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was morose. “We must prepare for the impact of the war,” his cabinet ministers told him. “The situation has become very dark indeed. The chance of peace has become dim.”

Earlier that day, any hope of a truce appeared to have been diminished. Israeli strikes destroyed an Iranian gas plant and Iranian strikes hit a critical Saudi Arabian petrochemical complex, raising fears it would push the Gulf country closer to war. Angered by what they saw as a “dangerous escalation”, Pakistan’s military top brass released an unusually damning public statement against Tehran, accusing them of “spoiling” efforts at peace.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s rhetoric in Washington escalated to new levels of hysteria as he threatened that Iran’s “entire civilization will die tonight” – including bombing power plants and bridges – if they did not agree to his demands for a ceasefire, with a deadline set for the end of the day.

For Pakistan’s government and its military, the country’s de facto rulers, helping to broker an end to the war was not simply a matter of prestige; its economy, defence, national security and sectarian harmony depended on it. A newly signed defense treaty with Saudi Arabia meant that if Riyadh chose to enter the war, they too would be dragged into it. “We were in a very fragile situation and desperate for negotiations to start,” one Pakistani official said.

behind the scenes, Asim Munir, the powerful army chiefand Asim Malik, the country’s head of army intelligence and national security adviser, performed on the work of the phones. Munir held a uniquely advantageous position as a peace broker, with a strong personal relationship with Trump and a longstanding relationship with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

In a typically bullish press conference at the White House on Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would later claims that Iran “begged” for the ceasefire.

However, Pakistani officials have a different version of events. Both sides wanted an end to the fighting, they said, but the push for a truce came mainly from Trump, who was “trapped” in a war he thought “might not go more than three days.”

Over several hours, calls went back and forth — mainly with Munir and Malik, with Trump, his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the vice president, JD Vance, and US special envoy Steve Witkoff on one side, and senior Iranian ministers including Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, on the other. Sharif also made calls to the Iranian side and to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Until Tuesday evening, Iran reportedly remained “reluctant” to commit to any ceasefire, with little confidence that the Trump administration did not simply use talks as a cover for the US and Israel to regroup and then strike again.

But this time, officials said, there was a new key player involved, one who wielded decisive influence with the Iranians: China, previously “reluctant” to get too involved in a messy war that has visibly weakened Trump, has quietly taken a different course as the war’s toll on its own economy mounts.

Just over a week earlier, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, had flown to Beijing to discuss ways to ensure peace in the Middle East and to call for a greater commitment from China to help end the conflict.

In a marked shift, Pakistani officials claimed China had been persuaded by “friendly countries” to make a crucial leap in Tuesday’s negotiations. “Pakistan had to engage China to convince Iran to go for a ceasefire,” one official said.

By 8:00 p.m., Sharif held a much more optimistic meeting with his cabinet. “A ray of hope has emerged for negotiations and a ceasefire,” he said, adding that Munir was leading a breakthrough.

According to reports, China directly urged Iran to accept a ceasefire and promised to act as a guarantee of Iran’s security in any talks. Among the assurances China offered was that Iranian leaders would not be assassinated if they traveled for negotiations.

“We were the mediator, not the sponsor,” said one Pakistani official. “The main role was played by China. They became a guarantor of the ceasefire and promised that the US would assist the agreement and that talks would go smoothly in Islamabad. They told Iran to accept this agreement.”

Pakistani officials claimed the US was aware and comfortable with China’s intervention. Trump later appeared to confirm this account in an interview, where he said he believed China had persuaded Iran to negotiate.

By 4am in Islamabad, the seemingly impossible had been secured. A – temporary, fragile – ceasefire agreement was agreed upon by both the US and Iran. Michael Kugelman, South Asia fellow at the Atlantic Council, described it as Pakistan’s “biggest diplomatic victory in years”.

On Wednesday, Sharif hailed the ceasefire as a “shining moment” in Pakistan’s history and a “first step” towards peace. He promised that peace talks involving both the US and Iran would continue in Islamabad on Friday, with apparent preparations for them to be held at the city’s Serena Hotel. An Iranian source confirmed that Tehran intended to send Ghalibaf and Araghchi as its negotiators.

Pakistani officials have privately expressed fears that Israel and the United Arab Emirates may still try to “sabotage” the peace process, especially as Israel has said Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement and trade through the Strait of Hormuz remains largely blocked.

Kugelman said Pakistan “challenged a lot of skeptics and naysayers who didn’t think it had the ability to pull off such a complex, high-stakes feat,” adding, “Most importantly, it helped avert a potential disaster in Iran.”