Pakistan, backed by China, has emerged as the unlikely architect of a diplomatic framework aimed at ending the Iran war - assembling a coalition that now includes Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while Europe watches from the sidelines.
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius has detailed the diplomatic maneuvering behind the scenes of the fragile ceasefire, "Hvylya" reports.
Islamabad stepped into the role of mediator because it maintains working relationships with nearly every key player - the United States, Iran, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Pakistani diplomats view diplomacy as "more masked ball than two-person tango," Ignatius wrote, and they have proven "sometimes maddeningly adept at the art of ambiguity."
A critical early step came on March 31, when China and Pakistan jointly launched an initiative "For Restoring Peace and Stability in the Gulf." The proposal set out three priorities: cessation of hostilities, the start of peace talks and "security of shipping lanes." Officials told Ignatius the initiative had been discussed during a March 16 phone call between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Turkey opened a parallel diplomatic channel. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met diplomats from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt in Islamabad for what Pakistan's foreign ministry called "consultations on efforts aimed at de-escalation in the region." A separate call for collective action to reopen the strait came from 46 former government ministers organized by the International Crisis Group, who modeled their proposal on the 2022 Black Sea Initiative.
European allies, by contrast, have been "notably uninvolved" in these collective efforts, according to Ignatius. Trump's erratic rhetoric - including a profane Easter rant telling Iran to "Open the Fuckin' Strait" that Pope Leo XIV called "truly unacceptable" - has cost him credibility with European governments. Yet in capitals where politics functions as performance art, Trump's bellicosity registered as "just showbiz," one official told Ignatius.
Peace talks had been expected to start in Islamabad on Friday. By late Wednesday, however, Iran's Fars News Agency reported the strait was fully closed, and Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf suggested Tehran might withdraw from talks unless Israel halts its attacks on Lebanon.
Earlier, "Hvylya" reported on how Gulf states began reassessing the value of American military bases on their soil as the war eroded trust in Washington.