By Sidra Shaukat
When the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, 2026, the Middle East lurched toward a regional conflagration that threatened to consume everyone in its orbit. The Conflict that started between the U.S/Israel and Iran engulfed the entire region when Iran struck U.S bases in GCC states as retaliatory strikes.
Amid the absence of deterrence frameworks and the silence of multilateral diplomacy, Pakistan stepped forward as an unlikely interlocutor in the midst of the crisis and talks between the U.S and Iran in Islamabad that was the first direct US-Iran diplomatic engagement since 1979. Pakistan has positioned itself as a diplomatic bridge by supporting and hosting dialogue between the U.S, Iran and other regional states to prevent further escalation.
It is noteworthy that Pakistan’s diplomatic role in the US-Iran conflict was the culmination of a deliberate, high-stakes regional strategy that began well before the start of the 2026 crisis. In May 2025, soon after four day conflict with India, the then Army Chief General Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif both traveled to Tehran to pay gratitude to Islamic Republic of Iran for supporting Pakistan during the conflict. The Pakistani delegation also met with the Supreme Leader and discussed bilateral cooperation. It was a dual-signal of Strategic credibility and diplomatic seriousness, where Pakistan demonstrated its ability to combine battlefield effectiveness with its role as key regional connector, which got the attention of the U.S.
It was precisely the time when the Trump administration recalibrated its assessment and recognized Pakistan as a credible and trustworthy diplomatic partner. Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts to resolve this conflict started right from the beginning and what followed afterwards was a high level diplomatic statecraft that laid the groundwork for de-escalation and temporary ceasefire. Pakistani officials helped identify areas of compromise, drafted proposals, and kept communication channels alive through multiple near-collapses in the negotiations.
Pakistan has a history of facilitating and hosting diplomatic talks to build peace and stability in its region. In 1971, Pakistan facilitated Henry Kissinger’s secret flight from Islamabad to Beijing and that covert mission made Nixon’s-China opening possible. This facilitation remains one of the most consequential acts of diplomatic intermediary in modern history. Pakistan also hosted the Murree talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in 2015, and played a direct role in the conditions that produced the 2020 Doha Agreement. Moreover, when Saudi-Iranian tensions erupted in 2016, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and General Raheel Sharif traveled to both Riyadh and Tehran within consecutive days, a precedent for the dual-capital engagement Islamabad would revisit a decade later.
Pakistan’s efforts for de-escalation can also be assessed when Pakistan worked simultaneously to bring other regional actors’ implicit endorsement into the process. Iran’s strategic calculus shifted when Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar traveled to Beijing and secured Chinese backing for the Pakistan-led peace framework through Five-Point Initiative. Iran’s pragmatists understood that a process China had formally endorsed carried strategic weight no bilateral American overture could replicate. China’s relations with Iran rooted in energy trade and economic interdependence, gave Pakistan’s mediation efforts a structural push. The broader coordination bloc, whom Pakistan assembled around, tells the same story. The quartet of Türkiye, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt provided overlapping channels of negotiation that spanned the Gulf, the Levant, and Washington simultaneously. Türkiye’s particular contribution was its rare ability to maintain working relationships with all parties which stemmed from its unique position as NATO member while maintaining working relations with Iran. Qatar, leveraging its established history of hosting sensitive negotiations, positioned itself as a co-facilitator, with its officials present at the Bürgenstock talks in Switzerland. The Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia and Qatar, were not merely supportive bystanders; their own exposure to energy market disruption and threats to Strait of Hormuz traffic gave them powerful material incentives to see a negotiated settlement prevail.
None of this, however, diminishes what Pakistan itself brought to the table and what it stood to lose had it stayed on the sidelines. Islamabad’s interests in resolving this conflict are acute and multidimensional. Pakistan shares a 900-kilometer border with Iran, making the western frontier a direct pressure point for refugee flows, cross-border instability, and security deterioration. Over 85 percent of Pakistan’s oil requirements and 99 percent of its LNG imports arrive from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Gulf. This conflict acutely threatened supply lines and Pakistan’s economy has already born massive brunt in fuel shortage and high fuel process. A prolonged regional conflict could further unleash flood of cascading crises. The war had already forced Pakistan into painful austerity measures: shortened working weeks, school closures, and sweeping energy rationing. The incentive to extinguish the regional fire before it reached Pakistan’s interior is huge in terms of social harmony.
What does Pakistan extract from this, beyond the immediate stabilization of its neighborhood? The first incentive is international legitimacy as a diplomatic stakeholder at a moment when India is spreading foul propaganda against Pakistan for causing regional instability in South Asia. The second incentive, as discussed above, is energy security. Stability in the Strait of Hormuz is imperative for stable oil prices, revival of Iran-Pakistan gas pipelines and trade routes. Throughout this period of negotiation, Pakistan has managed to secure future projects for trade routes and energy investment that will provide economic boost. Finally, Pakistan has demonstrated, concretely and verifiably, that it is not merely a recipient of great-power decisions, but a state capable of constructing diplomatic outcomes that elude larger powers.
Despite all these efforts, the conflict is still unresolved and there is still uncertainty regarding any resolution of the conflict. However, Pakistan has proved that it is a credible regional partner that is well-invested in regional stability and durable peace. Throughout this period, Pakistan has leveraged its longstanding ties with key regional actors to facilitate de-escalation and dialogue. Pakistan’s channel, its network, and its credibility, was not incidental; rather it was a deliberate and well-crafted diplomatic achievement which reflected both its strategic relevance and efforts for sustainable regional settlement.
Author: Sidra Shaukat – Research Officer at the Strategic Vision Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan.
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy or views of World Geostrategic Insights).