ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir has become active as go-between to defuse tensions between the United States and Iran, Financial Times has reported.
Asim Munir used Tehran ties and warm relationship with US president Donald Trump to boost mediation effort.
The publication reported that Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir spoke to Donald Trump on Sunday, according to two people briefed on the call.
It further said that Pakistan is positioning itself as the lead mediator trying to broker an end to the US and Israel war on Iran, using its military strongman’s ties to Tehran and warm relationship with Donald Trump.
Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif also held talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday, according to the Financial Times.
The conversation between the Pakistani and Iranian leaders came at around the same time as Trump announced that he was delaying his threat to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants after “very good and productive” conversations with Tehran to end the war, it added.
The White House, however, declined to elaborate on Trump negotiations. “These are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the United States will not negotiate through the news media,” the White House said.
Turkey, which was involved in mediation efforts before the war, has also been talking to Iranian officials and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar held talks with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on Monday. Egypt’s foreign minister Badr Abdelatty also spoke to his Iranian and Pakistani counterparts on Sunday, as well as Witkoff and Qatar’s foreign minister, according to the media report.
Iran state media
Iranian state-affiliated media, however, denied that there were talks with the US. “There have been no negotiations,” an unnamed senior security official told the Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, which is spearheading Iran’s military response.
Analysts and diplomats cautioned against the prospect of the success of any mediations as the war stretches into its fourth week. People briefed on the matter said the diplomatic efforts involved very early-stage messaging, rather than a formal process, the FT reported.
Sanam Vakil at the Chatham House think-tank, said several countries were “scrambling” to de-escalate the conflict but added: “I don’t take this as any signal the war is coming to an end.”
She linked Trump walking back with possible pressure from Gulf states as Iran vowed to respond to any attack on its power plants by targeting vital infrastructure across the region, including energy facilities and water desalination plants.
On Saturday, Trump in a Truth Social post said that the US would strike Iran’s power plants, “starting with the biggest one”, if Tehran did not allow vessels to transit through the waterway, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally passes.
However, on Monday, he decided to suspend that threat by five days. “It’s positive to play out what a compromise and agreement might look like, but I don’t see a willingness on either side to compromise,” Vakil said. “I don’t think Trump can walk away from this crisis of his making.”
“And I just don’t see Iran caving,” she added. “They feel they have the upper hand and the leverage — this is again about their survival and the conditions that will assure their survival.”
It was Oman and Qatar who typically led mediation between the US and Iran. But regional officials said there had been no momentum behind diplomatic efforts since the US and Israel launched the war two days after a round of talks between the Trump administration and Iranian officials in Geneva.
The FT quoted two people briefed on the matter as having said that senior Pakistani officials were back-channelling communications between Tehran and Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and envoy.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has spoken to Iranian president Pezeshkian multiple times since the war started.
“While sharing with the Iranian President the diplomatic outreach efforts of Pakistan’s leadership, the prime minister assured the Iranian leadership that Pakistan would continue to play a constructive role in facilitating peace,” Pakistan said in a readout of their conversation on Monday.
Pakistan, which does not host any American bases, is one of the few US allies in the neighbourhood that has been spared Tehran’s missiles and drones. That fact has helped shore it up as a neutral arbiter to Iran and the US, the FT said quoting three people familiar with the matter.
“Pakistan has pitched Islamabad as venue for a summit between senior Trump administration officials and Iranian officials as part of its diplomatic push, people familiar with the matter said.”
