Pakistan mediates – Pakistan’s military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has emerged as a central go-between in renewed US-Iran diplomacy, helping broker a two-week ceasefire in April that was later extended by President Donald Trump at Pakistan’s request. The shift also reflects
By early April, the world was waiting to see whether President Donald Trump would eventually give final approval to a deal that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz and—if the diplomacy holds—close out the 2026 US-Iran conflict.
Inside that uncertainty, one role has stood out as both unusual and decisive: Pakistan’s. It was Field Marshal Asim Munir. Pakistan’s military leader. who served as the key go-between in talks that produced the initial two-week US-Iran ceasefire in early April. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif then announced it had gone into effect.
A few days later, Islamabad hosted the highest-level talks between the US and Iranian governments since 1979, with US Vice President J.D. Vance among those taking part. On April 21, Trump announced the ceasefire had been extended, saying it was at Pakistan’s request.
Munir has made two personal visits to Iran as part of his mediation efforts, with the most recent arriving on May 21.
The arrangement matters because it comes at the point of maximum risk. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical route, and the conflict’s continuation has become a direct economic threat for Pakistan—an ally turned mediator now trying to stop a war from swallowing its own stability.
That Pakistan has been able to move between Washington and Tehran so visibly is also tied to the way its relationship with the second Trump administration has reshaped.
Trump has publicly praised Pakistani leadership in terms that sounded personal rather than transactional. In April. he posted on Truth Social: “Thank you to Pakistan and its great prime minister and field marshal. two fantastic people!” In the same period. he described Munir as an “exceptional man” and “my favorite field marshal.”.
Pakistan’s rise as a negotiating venue also sits atop a broader shift in US priorities. The “P5+1” countries that helped produce the 2015 Iran nuclear deal were the UN Security Council members— the US. China. the UK. France. and Russia—plus Germany. Oman hosted US-Iran talks in the lead-up to the war. but since the conflict began. Pakistan has become the intermediary and negotiating choice.
The country has offered something the US needed: credibility with both sides.
The contrast with Trump’s first term is hard to ignore. During that earlier stretch, Pakistan was treated far more harshly. On New Year’s Day in 2018. Trump suspended most security assistance to Pakistan. tweeting: “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit. thinking of our leaders as fools.”.
Later, Trump canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Pakistan. The relationship had already been strained by widespread allegations that Pakistan provided safe harbor to Taliban militants fighting US forces in Afghanistan while maintaining ties with other anti-US militants. Pakistan responded by halting intelligence-sharing with the US amid widespread anti-American protests.
At the same time. Trump cultivated a close relationship with Pakistan’s arch-rival India and India’s prime minister. Narendra Modi. Modi’s majoritarian populist style was described as a natural Trump ally. while India’s position as a superpower counterweight to China made it a security partner. That pro-India tilt carried into the Biden administration as well. and there was every expectation it would continue when Trump returned in 2025.
Pakistan’s turnaround began in early March 2025. The country arrested an ISIS-K operative who was allegedly a key planner of the Kabul airport suicide bombing that killed 13 US troops during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. and Pakistan extradited him to the United States. Trump publicly thanked Pakistan.
Then came a brief May 2025 war between India and Pakistan. Pakistan’s government publicly praised Trump for his “pivotal leadership” in the diplomacy that ended the conflict and nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Trump raised Pakistan’s nomination during a phone call with Modi. and he was reportedly irritated that Modi did not respond similarly. instead seeming to downplay America’s role.
Pakistan also appears to have tailored its diplomacy to the personalist style that has defined Trump’s era of dealmaking. Pakistan’s finance minister signed a deal with World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency company co-founded by Trump’s sons and the sons of his diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Sharif also signed several memoranda on deals to deliver critical minerals and rare earth elements from Pakistan to the US. Pakistani officials have increasingly grouped the relationship’s drivers into what they call the “3 Cs”: counterterrorism, critical minerals, and crypto.
And some of the change, at least in Washington’s eyes, has depended on the man now steering the shuttle between governments. Munir has been ascendant since becoming army chief in 2022 after being appointed by Sharif.
Pakistan’s military, long a powerful presence in politics, is now positioned more directly at the center. Imran Khan—an anti-American populist prime minister who took power halfway through Trump’s first term—was removed in a vote of no confidence in 2022. which Khan blamed on the military establishment. Khan has been detained on corruption charges since 2023, and the military moved quickly to consolidate power.
Munir’s authority has expanded in ways that have alarmed those who see Pakistan shifting toward military rule. In 2025. a constitutional amendment gave Munir full control over all branches of the military. including the nuclear forces. for a term that could last until 2030. along with immunity from prosecution.
Trump has reinforced Munir’s standing as well. Trump hosted the field marshal for a working lunch at the White House—the first time a Pakistani military leader rather than its elected prime minister has been hosted for such an event.
The diplomatic opening now appears to be working inside a different global environment.
After the US withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, one major source of tension in the US-Pakistan relationship eased: alleged Pakistan “double game” with the Taliban. Pakistan and Afghanistan—now controlled by the Taliban—have been fighting a brutal border conflict for months.
The second Trump administration’s approach has also moved away from a primary focus on Islamist terrorism. pivoting toward different priorities. “Great power competition” with China has decreased the importance of India’s role. and US-India relations have grown frostier over issues ranging from India’s agricultural protectionism and immigration in the US to India’s economic relationship with Russia.
Michael Kugelman. senior fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council. put it this way: “The second Trump administration. in its foreign policy. is aggressively transactional; it’s not changed by strategic considerations. even compared to how it was during its first term.” He added that. “so in that regard. [the Trump administration] would not have any concerns about embracing Pakistan. even though Islamabad has a very close alliance with Beijing.”.
That transactional posture may help explain why Pakistan’s other partnerships have deepened even as it sought warmer ties with Washington. Pakistan has strengthened both military and economic ties with China. In remarks during a visit by Sharif last month, Xi Jinping hailed Pakistan’s “unbreakable” friendship with Pakistan.
In 2025, Pakistan also signed a nuclear defense pact with Saudi Arabia. The move has been interpreted in different ways: some analysts saw it as effectively extending Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella to allies in the Persian Gulf, while others disputed that interpretation.
Pakistan’s ties with Iran are complicated. In 2024, the two countries were lobbing missiles at each other’s territory. They deescalated quickly, and since then they have cooperated in combating separatist militants and smugglers along their shared border. Munir. in particular. is believed to be familiar with Iran’s military establishment from his days as Pakistan’s spy chief.
Elizabeth Threlkeld. director of the South Asia program at the Stimson Center. described the diplomatic balancing act: “They have proven remarkably adept and agile in ensuring that they’re able to keep all of these balls in the air. ” she said. referring to Pakistan’s global web of alliances. “But they are also vulnerable to a number of different shocks from different sources, given their positioning right now.”.
For Pakistan, the urgency is not just diplomatic. Islamabad needs the conflict to end quickly. The war has put Pakistan among the countries most exposed to its economic consequences: Pakistan normally imports almost two-thirds of its natural gas and 30 to 40 percent of its total imports via the Strait of Hormuz. Food and fuel prices are surging in the country.
There is also political pressure inside Pakistan itself. Strong domestic opposition to the US-led war has grown, particularly among Pakistan’s large Shiite minority. And Pakistan’s defense pact with Saudi Arabia raises the risk that it could be pulled into a wider Gulf conflict.
Pakistan’s mediation has, at times, shown its strengths and limits. Despite Munir and the ceasefire brokered in April, the arrangement has not yet translated into a permanent end to the conflict or a confirmed reopening of the Strait.
There have also been moments when Pakistan’s mediation appeared to misrepresent the sides’ actual positions in an effort to push a deal through. Trump’s recent demand that a number of Muslim countries. including Pakistan. join the Abraham Accords as part of a final Iran deal did not go over well in Pakistan. which has refused to recognize Israel since its founding.
As the war drags on. Pakistan’s role could come to look less like a diplomatic masterstroke and more like a credibility-taxing struggle it can’t resolve on its own. If Pakistan cannot deliver the ceasefire deal Trump is looking for—or if Trump’s priorities shift again—Pakistan may once more find itself on the receiving end of attacks from Washington.
For now, the most immediate fact on the ground is that Munir has been making the calls and sitting across the table. With talks held in Islamabad and a ceasefire extended at Pakistan’s request, Pakistan has become the bridge the conflict did not expect to need.
Pakistan US Iran ceasefire Strait of Hormuz Asim Munir Shehbaz Sharif J.D. Vance Donald Trump