Ayesha Mir

There&#39;s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from waiting for history to happen. More than your back hurting from catching flights, it&rsquo;s the anxiety of staying ready to break the much-awaited news, every single hour, for weeks. Sometimes that moment sneaks up quietly on you, as it did on June 18, when the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was signed electronically without prior notice. By that time, many of us had already congregated at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland. Just as the adrenaline had kicked in, we waited by the lake, and we were met with news of cancellations. Iran linked any further talks to a complete ceasefire in Lebanon, and its top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned that Tehran would remain firm on its &quot;red lines&quot;. These included a halt to Israeli strikes on Lebanon, alongside the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions, and the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. For a moment, it looked like the whole process might unravel.&nbsp; The Pakistani leadership got down to business immediately, with the last-minute diplomacy that has defined this entire saga; Minister of Interior Mohsin Naqvi flew to Iran. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to Cairo. And then, before you know it, the Prime Minister and Chief of Defense Forces were heading to Burgenstock to host US and Iranian delegations with the Qataris. There was still no clarity over what to expect; would it be a closed-door affair like it was in Islamabad, or would there be something for the cameras? We saw the Pakistanis meet the two delegations separately. That much we expected. But then the PM and CDF walk into the conference room, and we&rsquo;re told the Americans and Iranians will join shortly. Everyone holds their breath. JD Vance and his delegation walk in &ndash; more relaxed than he was after addressing the media at the end of the Islamabad Talks. The Iranians also come, but exit after hugs and handshakes, almost like they&rsquo;re here to honor their Pakistani friends.&nbsp; PM Shehbaz begins addressing the media. But JD Vance steals the show: he jokes, &ldquo;I have two very important people in my life - an Indian and a Pakistani. The Indian is my wife and the Pakistani is Field Marshal Asim Munir. I&rsquo;ve probably talked more to Asim Munir more than I&rsquo;ve talked to anyone else in the last three months.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s the most candid appreciation one can get in a diplomatic setting, and says a lot about the work at play to arrive at this moment, even if it&rsquo;s not a final end to the war. In fact, the days leading up to itself are a case study on just how fragile this matter is.&nbsp; Over the past 3 months, I&#39;ve spent nights at the office waiting for live blogs to refresh, for a message from someone who may know something I didn&rsquo;t. I&#39;ve hopped on flights with a few hours&#39; notice, landed, and been told to turn around and fly straight back before I&#39;d even unpacked. That alone tells you something: Pakistan is handling a matter so fragile that even the journalists covering it can&#39;t plan a single day in advance. World affairs can flip within seconds. I&#39;ve shuffled in and out of security zones in Islamabad, then B&uuml;rgenstock, badge in hand, and sometimes still not allowed to get through, still not able to get the &ldquo;scoop&rdquo;. There&rsquo;s something particularly nerve-wracking about being on the ground and still not able to tell what&rsquo;s next. A breakthrough at 9pm could be a collapse by midnight. Not because the facts changed, but because one leader changed his mind. Or one, much further away than the negotiating rooms, was too stubborn to respect the very memorandum the world was trying to broker around him. B&uuml;rgenstock itself seems designed for exactly this kind of waiting. The resort sits on a cliff above Lake Lucerne, the Alps rising behind it in snow-streaked lines that remind me of my own hilly home. There&#39;s water on three sides, and one road in as the only way up. It&rsquo;s postcard scenery made secure by geography; a venue that is naturally sealed, easily controlled, and entirely removed from the noise of any capital. What helps is that it is also a Qatari property.&nbsp; And in the middle of all of it: Pakistan. Which is precisely where my question kept returning. Not &quot;did they make a deal&quot; because that much I could report. But what is Pakistan actually doing in those rooms? How do you mediate between a superpower that wants a quick, photogenic win and a regime that needs to look like it never bent? How do you offer off-ramps and manage hardliners on both sides, the people whose entire political survival depends on the deal being seen as a loss for the other? How do you talk the President of the United States out of threatening to wipe out a whole civilization?&nbsp; The Pakistani leadership keeps stepping in to stitch together a process that is weak at the seams. And I find myself wondering how many times this exact sequence &ndash; collapse, frantic phone calls, revival &ndash; will repeat before this is truly over. But more importantly, what&rsquo;s happening on these trips? On one of Naqvi&rsquo;s trips to Tehran, he carried a letter for Iran&#39;s new Supreme Leader. Hand delivered. What was in that letter? I don&#39;t know. And nobody will tell me. Perhaps, we&rsquo;ll find out a few years down the road when this becomes history. So what&#39;s left to a journalist when the officials won&rsquo;t talk and you can&rsquo;t report in the interest of diplomacy?&nbsp; You work with what&#39;s visible. What happens behind those closed doors, structurally speaking, is usually some combination of bilateral meetings: restricted sessions between the principals, the experts, the note-takers. Breakout sessions, where smaller technical teams flesh out details neither side wants to negotiate in the main room. Banking officials in one room are arguing over unfreezing assets. Energy officials in another, working through the mechanics of lifting sanctions on oil exports. Pakistan and Qatar, as mediators, shuttling between rooms, carrying positions back and forth, working with language that suits both sides. No photos. No videos. No readouts.&nbsp; What I can deduce, instead, comes from counting. Count the trips: Munir&#39;s repeated flights to Tehran, sometimes arriving in full uniform to a warm embrace from Iran&#39;s foreign minister, and other times in civilian clothing; a statesman and a friend. Count Mohsin Naqvi&#39;s trips too: almost six separate visits to Iran since the war began, each one quieter than the last, but with important hints, such as carrying a hand-delivered letter for Iran&#39;s new Supreme Leader from Asim Munir. Count the phone calls made by Sharif and Dar, so many that some have called it a &ldquo;call-a-thon&rdquo;. Sharif worked the Gulf and beyond with the Saudi Crown Prince, Qatar&#39;s Amir twice in a single week, even the leaders of Japan, Canada, and Austria, while Dar ran a parallel circuit with Araghchi, Cairo, and Doha. Holding together a coalition scattered across multiple time zones. Then, Dar&rsquo;s visit to China and the signing of a peace framework in March. Qatar running parallel back-channel talks in Doha. Saudi Arabia and Turkey lending weight to Pakistan&rsquo;s efforts. Count the unlikely alliances: a Pakistani army chief and an American president who are now in direct, repeated contact. The Gulf hit badly, but willing to proceed with caution.&nbsp; None of that is confirmation of what to expect next. But it&#39;s evidence. And evidence, pieced together carefully, is sometimes the closest a journalist gets to the truth when the official channels stay shut. Diplomats say this kind of work isn&#39;t about winning arguments, it&#39;s about giving people a way to say yes without looking weak. Pakistan&#39;s task was never simply to get the US and Iran to agree with each other. It was to get each side to agree on something that can survive scrutiny of domestic hardliners. And the work it takes to reach that level, even to get the opposing parties to convene at one location, is slow, invisible and unglamorous work. All it gives us are mere photo opportunities in front of a &ldquo;summit&rdquo; poster. But those visuals are proof of Pakistan&rsquo;s hard work to keep this process from collapsing.&nbsp; And yet, &nbsp;even as I write this, even as delegations sit in heavily guarded rooms drafting careful language, innocent people are dying. That&#39;s the part that sits uneasily with me every time I file a script about diplomatic wins. Because the reason for hiccups isn&rsquo;t Tehran or Washington, it&rsquo;s Israel. Even Vance and Trump have said as much: After the Beirut strike, Trump reportedly told Netanyahu, &quot;What the f*** are you doing?&quot; and warned him he was making &quot;everybody hate Israel.&quot; And that part of the story is important for Pakistan too. It shows that Pakistan&#39;s credibility here was never built on Switzerland-style neutrality. It was built on refusing to recognize Israel, condemning its war in Gaza, then Lebanon, then Iran. That could have come at a cost for Pakistan in Washington, but it certainly gained trust for it in Tehran. Underneath the diplomacy was a position held consistently, long before there was a war to mediate. So perhaps the real story isn&#39;t just how Pakistan got two reluctant powers into a room. It did so while holding onto its own principles and guarded the process with grace. It quietly remained dedicated to peace while doing the heaviest lifting. And it doesn&rsquo;t even need to say it out loud, a simple joke by JD Vance does the work.&nbsp; <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Ayesha Mir is a presenter at Pakistan TV Digital who has extensively covered the US-Iran conflict.

Blogs

Pakistan leads intensive diplomatic efforts to help broker the US-Iran ceasefire, with senior officials conducting high-level mediation, hosting negotiations, and coordinating regional partners while navigating repeated setbacks to keep the fragile peace process alive.

Pakistan: The quiet broker

HONG KONG: Oil rose while Asian equities firmed Monday as a surge in artificial intelligence-linked stocks helped offset uncertainty over US-Iran talks. Gains in tech-heavy markets drove investor optimism, despite uncertainty driven by US-Iran negotiations to end the war that has roiled global energy markets since February. Iran&#39;s chief negotiator warned Sunday that Tehran would not trust Washington or agree to any deal unless its rights were fully secured, underlining the gap between the two sides as talks drag on. Reports that US President Donald Trump had sent back a tougher proposal have further complicated negotiations, raising the risk of delays to any agreement to formally end the war and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global crude transits in peacetime. While both sides continue to exchange proposals, key sticking points remain, including Iran&#39;s nuclear program, demands for sanctions relief and the future of shipping through the vital waterway. The stifled progress has left markets sensitive to developments, with oil prices edging higher as uncertainty around supply flows continue. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose by 2.4%, while West Texas Intermediate, was up 2.8%. Across Asia, Seoul led the rally jumping by more than 4.0%, boosted by continued demand for chipmakers and AI-related firms. Memory chip giant Samsung Electronics rose by more than 9.0%, while rival SK hynix rose by over 2.0%. Taipei, Tokyo, Manila, Wellington and Singapore also advanced. Hong Kong rose in early trade though mainland Chinese markets lagged, with Shanghai dipping, as caution over the domestic outlook could have tempered buying. May factory activity for China was flat at 50.0 after two months of expansion, according to official data released on Sunday. Sydney and Kuala Lumpur were down. Analysts said the resilience of equities despite geopolitical uncertainty demonstrated how dominant the AI-driven investment cycle remained. &quot;Investors continue to embrace the AI boom while assigning a higher probability to an eventual agreement between Washington and Tehran,&quot; Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management wrote in a commentary. &quot;The reason is simple. Artificial intelligence remains the dominant engine of market psychology, and as long as Washington and Tehran continue to exchange draft proposals rather than missiles, investors appear willing to give diplomacy the benefit of the doubt,&quot; he added. Attention remains on incoming US data and central bank signals this week. Investors would also be looking to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang&#39;s keynote speech at Taipei&#39;s Computex chip summit. Huang &quot;will set the tone today, with a typical upbeat and highly positive outlook set to go down&quot;, Chris Weston of Pepperstone said. &quot;Traders will closely scrutinize any updates relating to demand, product innovations, supply chains and infrastructure buildouts impacting what is already a super-hot space,&quot; he added. Key figures at around 0230 GMT&nbsp;Brent North Sea Crude: UP 2.48% at $93.38 a barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.88% at $89.88 a barrel Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.1% at 25,452.47 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.0% at 67,020.75 Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.4% at 4,084.46 Euro/dollar: DOWN at 1.1645 from $1.1663 on Friday Pound/dollar: DOWN at 1.3455 from $1.3464 Dollar/yen: UP at 159.48 from 159.27 yen Euro/pound: DOWN 86.55 at from 86.63 pence London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1% at 10,416.07 (close) New York - DOW: UP 0.7% at 51,032.46 points (close)

Visitors look at electronic display boards showing stock prices and economic indicators at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on June 1, 2026. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Business

Asian stocks climbed on AI-driven optimism, while oil prices rose amid ongoing uncertainty over US-Iran peace talks and the future of global energy supply routes.

Asian equities ahead, oil rises as uncertainty surrounds US-Iran talks

Web Desk/AFP

Navy vessel is seen sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which much of the world's oil and gas passes, on March 1, 2026. (File photo: AFP)

Middle East

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf describes the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as a “clumsy and ignorant decision,” saying tensions nearly escalated during behind-the-scenes talks involving an American minesweeper near the strategic waterway.

All you need to know about Day 50 of US-Israel war on Iran

US military announces it will begin blockading all Iranian Gulf ports on Monday at 1400 GMT, and will allow ships not coming or going to Iran to pass through the critical Strait of Hormuz; Iran's navy chief Shahram Irani calls US president's threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz "ridiculous."




Day 44: All you need to know about US-Israel war on Iran

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&#39;s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that it is imperative that the US and Iran continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire.&nbsp; Dar said this while briefing media on Islamabad Talks on Sunday. The Pakistani foreign minister, expressed his deep gratitude to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America for responding to the call made by Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif for an immediate ceasefire in the region as well as for accepting prime minister&#39;s invitation for holding peace talks in Islamabad.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2043183031121330312&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=76100c9e5ba0cf395b19894855d58680eb56c856&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 777px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" data-tweet-id="2043183031121330312"></iframe></div></div>The foreign minister said that &quot;I along with the Chief of Defense Forces and Army Chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir helped mediate several rounds of intense and constructive negotiations between the two sides that continued through the last 24 hours and ended this morning.&quot;&nbsp; Dar said, &quot;On behalf of Pakistan, I would like to express gratitude to the two sides for appreciating Pakistan&#39;s efforts to help achieve the ceasefire and its mediatory role.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;We hope that the two sides continue with the positive spirit to achieve durable peace and prosperity for the entire region and beyond.&quot;<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-2" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2043175378488041726&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=76100c9e5ba0cf395b19894855d58680eb56c856&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 877px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" data-tweet-id="2043175378488041726"></iframe></div></div>The foreign minister said, &quot;It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Pakistan has been and will continue to play its role to facilitate engagement and dialogue between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America in the days to come.&quot;&nbsp;

Foreign Affairs

Ishaq Dar Says, 'Pakistan has been and will continue to play its role to facilitate engagement and dialogue between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America in the days to come.' 

Pakistan foreign minister says 'imperative' for US, Iran to uphold ceasefire

ISLAMABAD: Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday that he welcomes Pakistan&rsquo;s offer to host dialogue between the United States and Iran, calling it &ldquo;timely and constructive.&rdquo; &ldquo;I welcome&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/pakistan-pm-says-islamabad-ready-to-host-talks-to-end-middle-east-war" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pakistan&rsquo;s</a>&nbsp;timely and constructive offer to host dialogue between the United States and Iran,&rdquo; he said in a post on X.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 648px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2036746075982405837&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=bd7f2e659f46a92c4d992e4a3e43a4ac21e04c9c&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px"></iframe></div></div>&ldquo;I commend Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the leaders of other friendly nations for stepping forward at a moment of acute regional danger, following the earlier commendable efforts of the leadership of Oman and other friendly countries.&rdquo; &lsquo;Credible voice&rsquo;&nbsp;He added that &ldquo;Pakistan&rsquo;s relationships with the relevant parties, and its standing as a credible voice in the Muslim world, place it in a strong position to help create the conditions for meaningful negotiations.&rdquo; The Malaysian leader said his country supports the initiative and urged both Washington and Tehran to respond positively. &ldquo;Malaysia supports this initiative and encourages in particular the United States and Iran to respond in the spirit in which it was offered,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I note with cautious hope the signals, however incomplete, that suggest some space for diplomacy may still exist. That space should be treated with the seriousness it deserves.&rdquo; Ibrahim stressed that negotiations must be genuine. &lsquo;Genuine intent&rsquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;Any negotiation must proceed on the basis of genuine intent: a clear commitment to ending the conflict, not managing its tempo for tactical advantage,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The international community has seen too many ceasefires that function as pauses rather than conclusions. The region deserves something more durable.&rdquo; Malaysia, Ibrahim said, &ldquo;reaffirms Iran&rsquo;s right to defend its sovereignty, as recognised under international law, particularly in the face of continued Israeli strikes in the country and in Lebanon.&rdquo; &lsquo;Maximum restraint&rsquo;&nbsp;He also called &ldquo;on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to ensure that civilian populations and the infrastructure of neighbouring states, namely the Gulf states, are not drawn further into a conflict they did not choose.&rdquo; &ldquo;The Gulf states, the region and the world have much at stake &mdash; economically, socially and in terms of long-term stability &mdash; and their peoples must not bear the consequences of decisions taken elsewhere,&rdquo; he added. Ibrahim also raised concerns about the application of international law. &ldquo;It is also a matter of concern that some of the strongest advocates of the rules-based international order appear to apply it unevenly. International law cannot be invoked selectively. It cannot shield one party from accountability while denying another its inherent right to self-defence. Its credibility depends on consistency.&rdquo; Ibrahim said he had recently engaged with multiple international partners. &ldquo;In recent days, I have held discussions with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, T&uuml;rkiye, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan and other partners to better understand the situation and to advocate for de-escalation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Malaysia will continue to support every credible effort towards a just and lasting peace,&rdquo; the Malaysian prime minister concluded.

Asia

Commends Pakistan PM Sharif and the 'leaders of other friendly nations for stepping forward at a moment of acute regional danger, following the earlier commendable efforts of the leadership of Oman and other friendly countries.’

Articles tagged with "US-Iran Negotiations"

Pakistan: The quiet broker

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All you need to know about Day 50 of US-Israel war on Iran

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