SINGAPORE (Kashmir English): US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has praised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and CDF and COAS Field Marshal Asim Munir for their role in the US-Iran peace negotiations.
Responding to a question at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, he said a “true friendship” is developing between Washington and Islamabad.
“I think it’s an unexpected development, the role that the Field Marshal and the Prime Minister [of Pakistan] are playing in the peace negotiations [with Iran],” he added.
The secretary further said, “I mentioned India here, but I very easily could have mentioned Pakistan and the role that the field marshal and the prime minister are playing in peace negotiations.”
“I think it’s an unexpected development, the role that the Field Marshal and the Prime Minister (of Pakistan) are playing in the peace negotiations (with Iran).”
“A true friendship is developing there”.
– U.S. Secretary of Defence Peter Brian Hegseth. pic.twitter.com/0aHvEXcIZm
— The STRATCOM Bureau (@OSPSF) May 30, 2026
Hegseth also reiterated the US and Pakistan’s stance that President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire between Pakistan and India during the May 2025 conflict.
“I think both sides are going to see understandable threats coming from the other, maybe some of which we see differently, and countries are going to want to develop ICBM threats,” he said, clarifying that Washington was not pointing a finger at either country right now or terming either of them a threat to the US.
