Aamer Madhani and Jon Gambrell
Updated ,first published
Dubai/Washington: Pakistan’s prime minister says his country is ready to “facilitate meaningful and final talks” to end Iran’s war, despite Iran vowing to fight until “total victory”.
“Without agreeing with the US and Iran, Pakistan is ready and honored to host to facilitate meaningful and effective dialogue for a comprehensive solution to the ongoing conflict,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote in a post on X.
Pakistan is one of the countries that is diplomatically pushing for talks between Iran and the United States after US President Donald Trump said there are ongoing talks between Washington and Tehran.
Trump began the fourth week of his war against Iran by giving the world guarded hope that the United States could soon shut down its operations, a claim that has drawn a muted response from the Iranian regime but temporarily calmed global market concerns.
Trump said on Monday (US time) that he was holding off on attacking Iran’s energy infrastructure for five days, citing “major aspects of the deal” with Iran.
He said the Islamic Republic wants to “make a deal” and claimed that US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner held talks on Sunday with the Iranian leader. He did not say who the Iranian leader is, but confirmed that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was not involved in any talks.
Iranian officials they have dismissed him Trump’s comments as a plot to temporarily stall “to lower energy prices and buy time to implement his military plans”.
Iran’s state television later quoted Major General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, a spokesman for Iran’s top military command, as saying: “Iran’s powerful armed forces are proud, victorious and steadfast in protecting Iran’s integrity, and this path will continue until complete victory.”
But a report from US media outlet CBS News, citing an unnamed senior Iranian foreign ministry official, said Iranian officials were reviewing US messages sent through various intermediaries.
Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan were all named as potential mediators, with a Gulf diplomat telling the Associated Press that Egypt and Turkey were leading the de-escalation effort.
“For now, it looks like they were able to avert an energy crisis” that would have occurred if Trump attacked Iran’s energy facilities and Iran responded, said the diplomat, who was not authorized to speak to reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has refused to comment on whether the country sent a message between Iran and the United States. However, Turkish officials have confirmed that the country’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has spoken with fellow leaders from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt and the European Union, as well as American officials, as part of efforts to end the war.
At the same time, an Egyptian official said that the United States and Iran exchanged messages through Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan at the end of the week, with the aim of avoiding a strike on energy infrastructure. The official was not authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump has also held talks with Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, about the conflict between Iran and talks with the country, a person familiar with the matter said.
Pakistan adds to the close ties forged by Trump along with its longstanding ties with neighboring Iran and other key players such as Saudi Arabia. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also spoken with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, and the US media outlet Axios has reported that the country’s mediators were trying to convene a meeting in Islamabad with Witkoff, Kushner and possibly US Vice President JD Vance, citing an unidentified Israeli official.
“All I’m saying is that we’re on the cusp of a real deal,” Trump said during a lengthy press conference before boarding Air Force One on Monday (US time) to travel from his home in Florida to an event in Memphis, Tennessee.
“And I guess, if I were a betting man, I would bet. But again, I don’t guarantee anything.”
Changes from Trump helped lower oil prices and supplies financial markets recovery due to recent US-Iran tensions. However, hopes for a slowdown may be short-lived amid reports that Trump’s Gulf allies – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – are preparing to enter the conflict.
The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing people familiar with the situation, that Saudi Arabia has agreed to give the US military access to King Fahd Air Base, a reversal after it said its bases could not be used to attack its longtime rival.
New York Times reported Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been pushing Trump to continue the war against Iran to destroy the hardline regime, according to people briefed on the talks by US officials.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates closed an Iranian-owned hospital and club – cutting off a major source of aid to Tehran. The videos also showed that some of the missiles used in the attacks against Iran were fired from Bahrain, the report said.
If Trump were to end the war now, he would be leaving the war when he has not yet fully achieved his stated goals, some regional analysts have pointed out.
Over the past few weeks, Trump has offered shifting justifications for war as Democrats accuse him of needlessly shaking up the global economy and polls show Americans are divided along party lines over the conflict.
But the president has settled on a list of goals he has said must be met, including degrading Iran’s missile capabilities, destroying its defense industrial base, eliminating Iran’s navy, preventing Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons, and securing the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said on Monday that the US would take Iran’s enriched uranium as part of a possible deal with the Islamic Republic, but did not elaborate on how, other than to say the US military would “take it ourselves”.
US and Israeli airstrikes have made progress on some of those targets. But analysts say Trump would boost his confidence if he claimed, at this point, that he had made good progress in achieving his goals – particularly ending Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear bomb.
U.S. and nuclear watchdogs believe as much as 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium remains under rubble at three key Iranian nuclear sites that were badly damaged by a small U.S. military operation last June during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran.
“Trump’s war option has not served his military goals,” Aaron David Miller, a former State Department negotiator for the Middle East who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said on X.
Miller noted that Iran he can still attack Gulf allies and effectively control the Strait of Hormuz. “No nuclear; no modernization, good luck with that. Inappropriate use of American power.”
Meanwhile, more US troops are still on the way and Trump has tried to leave plenty of room to take another sudden turn.
Trump ordered more troops into the region last week as the US administration weighed possible measures to take control of the channel that would allow safe passage of oil tankers from the Gulf states to Asia.
“We are witnessing how a conflict that started over politics and security is moving to be defined by energy and economics,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank.
“It’s hard to ignore the logic in the president’s own comments, which both calm the market but also buy time for the Marines to arrive.”
