Regional Powers Meet in Islamabad to End U.S.-Iran-Israel War

Iran agreed to allow 20 Pakistan-flagged vessels, two per day, through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway Tehran effectively closed when a U.S.-Israeli air campaign began more than a month ago. The concession came as four regional foreign ministers convened in Islamabad Sunday to lay the groundwork for what Pakistan's top diplomat announced would be direct U.S.-Iran talks "in the coming days."

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar welcomed his Saudi, Turkish and Egyptian counterparts, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Hakan Fidan and Badr Abdelatty, to a two-day summit that officials described as the most coordinated regional effort yet to push Washington and Tehran toward a negotiated settlement. Hours before the talks began, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a 90-minute phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, his second conversation with the Iranian leader in five days, to outline what Sharif described as Pakistan's "sincere and robust diplomatic efforts" to end the fighting.

"Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the U.S. have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks," Dar said after the meeting's first session concluded. He posted on social media that Pakistan would be "honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict."

The announcement faced an immediate and fierce rebuttal from Tehran's legislature. Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed the diplomatic opening as cover for escalation, writing in an official statement: "The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack." His remarks tracked a confirmed military deployment: a U.S. warship carrying roughly 3,500 military personnel arrived in the Middle East even as the Islamabad talks were underway.

Reopening Hormuz sits at the center of those competing pressures. The strait, through which roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil normally passes, has been effectively blockaded since the conflict began, sending shipping insurance costs surging and forcing cargo vessels onto longer, costlier routes. President Donald Trump has made the waterway's reopening a stated priority, and the 20-ship daily concession Iran granted to Pakistan-flagged vessels represents the first operational crack in that blockade.

Battlefield pressure has not eased alongside the diplomacy. Strikes on military and industrial infrastructure in the Gulf continued through the weekend, hitting energy facilities and ports. Yemen's Houthis added another front Saturday, firing missiles toward Israel in a move that raised fears of simultaneous disruption to Red Sea shipping lanes. Aid agencies have warned that civilian suffering is mounting, while reporters covering the conflict note that independently verifying casualty figures remains difficult given each side's efforts to shape battlefield perception.

Whether Islamabad can convert the concessions it has won, the Hormuz ships and the stated commitment of both capitals to talks, into a formal negotiating process will test Pakistan's unusual diplomatic positioning. It is among the few countries that maintains functional ties with both Washington and Tehran. That positioning makes it a credible host; what it cannot guarantee is that the warships and warplanes will wait for the diplomats to finish their work.