Pakistan’s military has described itself as cautiously optimistic about its efforts to mediate between Iran and the United States, its chief spokesman said on Friday.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), gave the assessment in an interview with Reuters, his first since a high-level regional delegation visited Tehran earlier in the week.
Asked whether two visits to Tehran this month by Field Marshal Asim Munir, who is leading Pakistan’s diplomatic push, pointed to progress, the spokesman replied: ‘Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course.’ He added that the phrase Pakistan would use was ‘cautiously optimistic’.
He also warned that powerful spoilers and detractors still believed conflict served their interests, without identifying them.
Munir’s latest trip on Monday was made alongside Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin. The delegation met senior Iranian officials in the Iranian capital.
After the talks, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said regional security should be guaranteed by countries of the region without foreign intervention. He called the discussions positive and said closer cooperation among the four countries could help settle regional problems.
The diplomatic push follows months of fighting that began with American and Israeli strikes on Iran in February and widened into a broader regional conflict. Pakistan brokered a ceasefire in April that halted the first intense phase of fighting, but efforts to reach a lasting settlement have since stalled.
On October 26, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye agreed to keep talking in order to strengthen cooperation on regional peace and security. Saudi Arabia later urged all sides to engage constructively with the outcome of the Tehran meeting and to pursue negotiations so that military escalation does not return. Pakistan’s Foreign Office said in October that direct communication between Washington and Tehran had reflected progress in the mediation effort.
The talks unfold amid wider regional tensions, including concern over maritime security and shipping disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy route.
