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Pakistan’s rapid turn from pariah to linchpin in Iran peace talks

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by Sarakshi Rai and Filip Timotija - 04/25/26 6:00 AM ET

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by Sarakshi Rai and Filip Timotija - 04/25/26 6:00 AM ET

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Pakistan has emerged as a key player in the U.S.-Iran peace talks, marking a remarkable turn of fortunes for its top general, who during President Trump’s second term has transformed from a global pariah to a diplomatic heavyweight.

Trump on Tuesday announced an extension of the ceasefire with Iran, saying it would be in place until Tehran provides a unified proposal.

In the statement, the president said it came following a direct appeal from Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country’s powerful military leader, Asim Munir, who have mediated the negotiations.

Munir, the nation’s army chief, has taken an unorthodox approach to forging a deal between Washington and Tehran, building ties with Trump while engaging with Iran’s political leadership and its Revolutionary Guards Corps.

“He doesn’t blink in the face of pressure. He is Islamic without being ideological, which is very important, because previously we had Islamists who were ideological,” Mushahid Hussain, a Pakistani senator representing Islamabad, told The Hill on Wednesday.

A turning point in relations with Trump came around the India-Pakistan conflict in 2025, when Pakistan nominated the U.S. president for the Nobel Peace Prize, said Alexander Palmer, a fellow in the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“He’s been very vocal about desiring it. And I think that Pakistan’s eager participation in President Trump’s various initiatives like the Board of Peace would certainly play a role and make him see Pakistan as a kind of reliable partner, in a way that he has not always seen America’s more traditional allies.”

Hussain, who served as Pakistan’s minister of information, said Trump is very much impressed by the military uniforms and the brass, “especially Field Marshal Asim Munir and Pakistanis are generally affable, relaxed, backslapping kind of folks.”

“Trump loves winners, and he’s impressed,” Hussain added. “He said, ‘Who are these Pakistanis? It’s a small country, and they’ve clobbered the Indians, this puny little country, which has got the atom bomb also, beat the hell out of the Indians in this encounter. So who are these folks?’”

The turnaround in U.S. sentiment has been swift. Under the Biden administration, U.S. relations with the South Asian country were in the doldrums, with limited engagement with the White House. Former President Biden did not have a phone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart for the duration of his presidential term.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was ousted in 2022 and then subsequently imprisoned, had also accused Biden’s administration of orchestrating a “regime change.”

Joshua T. White, a nonresident fellow in the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution, told The Hill on Wednesday that Munir, who has served as the head of Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency, also has a long-standing — if not particularly warm — relationship with Iran.

“The IRGC likely harbors doubts about Islamabad’s reliability, but recognizes that Pakistan is one of the few countries that can serve as a credible mediator between Tehran and Washington,” White added, using an abbreviation for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In some ways, the Iran talks mark a return to form for Pakistan. President Nixon’s 1972 visit to China at the height of the Cold War followed three years of Pakistan-brokered talks, leading to the historic image of Nixon shaking hands with then-Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

This time around, Trump may see an opportunity to pull Pakistan away from China, which has made major long-term investments in the country, Palmer said.

“The United States is a much larger arms exporter in general than China is, but China is by far Pakistan’s largest arms provider, and Pakistan is by far China’s largest arms buyer. So there’s a real depth of relationship there that the United States may struggle to, if it even decides it desires, to begin to pry Pakistan away from China, kind of adding to that the India issue.”

Pakistan hosted Iranian and U.S. officials, including Vice President Vance, for the first round of talks in Islamabad following the ceasefire. During the lengthy huddle, the two sides were not able to reach a deal, and Trump imposed a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington and Tehran have gone back and forth, unable to set the stage for the second round of peace talks, but Trump