Pakistan played the role of facilitator in Iran-US ceasefire: Hamid Mir

On Tuesday, President Trump heralded a precarious diplomatic breakthrough: a two-week ceasefire designed to secure the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. According to the initial framing of the announcement, the pause in hostilities followed requests by Pakistan’s prime minister and top military brass acting on Tehran’s behalf, utilising an Iranian 10-point plan as the foundational framework.

However, in the wake of the announcement, a critical geopolitical question has emerged among policy circles: Is Islamabad massively overplaying its role as a regional peacemaker?

To understand why Pakistan found itself at the centre of this geopolitical manoeuvring, one must look at the historical architecture of its bilateral relationship with Iran. Aparna Pande, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, notes that shared geography and demographics afford Islamabad a unique utility.