As ceasefire stumbles, Islamabad struggles to bridge Washington-Tehran divide

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has invited top Iranian officials for talks as mediation efforts to end the war with the United States are reinvigorated. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar spoke with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, inviting him "to visit Pakistan at his earliest convenience." Separately, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq extended an invitation to Iranian counterpart Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

The outreach came as US President Donald Trump accused Tehran of being "unbelievably duplicitous" over talks meant to end the war launched by the US and Israel in late February. Trump told reporters this was Iran's "last chance" to sign a "good document" before "decapitation," warning again that Tehran faced "a deal or total surrender."

His comments followed Iranian spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei's insistence that no talks with the US were underway—only technical discussions with Oman over reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Baghaei reaffirmed that Pakistan remained "the mediator" in talks concerning Iran and the US.

Pakistan's position has remained unchanged since the war began: advocating restraint and calling for dialogue. In April, Pakistan hosted the first direct US-Iran talks in decades, culminating in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed in June by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Trump.

Yet each de-escalation attempt has unraveled. An April ceasefire collapsed within days, while the MoU lasted barely a month. Throughout weekly briefings, Pakistani officials have repeated that the MoU remains the framework for peace.

Asif Durrani, Pakistan's former ambassador to Iran, described the memorandum as "a foundational document" rather than a dead one. "Pakistan could only facilitate, and that is what it has done sincerely, and that sincerity has been acknowledged internationally."

But Grace Wermenbol, former US national security official, argued that breakdowns reflect deeper problems. "Persistent recurring conflict has eroded the trust necessary for a longer-term ceasefire."

Mehran Kamrava of Georgetown University went further: "The United States has no exit strategy, no clear objectives and no sense of what the end game is or ought to be, and it continues to move the goalposts." Iran, he added, is determined to retain leverage over the strait.

Seyed Mojtaba Jalalzadeh, a Tehran-based analyst, warned that repeated failures have downgraded Pakistan's role "from that of a mediator capable of resolving the conflict to that of a facilitator with access to the parties." He cautioned: "If Pakistan promises more than it is capable of delivering, its reputational capital will also erode over the long term."

Pakistan is not alone in mediation. Iran and Oman are separately negotiating over the Strait of Hormuz, while Qatar offers assistance. Kamrava described this as a strength: "There is a collective will across the region... to ensure this conflict ends as soon as possible."

Pakistan's challenge remains structural. It can facilitate talks and broker agreements, but cannot compel Washington and Tehran to honor commitments.

Commenting on Trump's rhetoric, Jalalzadeh said it was a deliberate act "seeking to create a sense of urgency and impose costs on Iran." But Kamrava disagreed: "What we have seen from Donald Trump is erratic statements and postures, and the one thing conspicuously absent is consistency. The mixed messages are not a negotiating tactic. They reflect the absence of a strategy."

Wermenbol traced inconsistency to domestic pressure, noting the war remains unpopular in the US while economic costs "are not making things easy for this administration."

(Source: Al Jazeera)