Saturday, May 23, 2026
Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir arrived in Tehran on Friday for emergency talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in what Islamabad described as an effort to advance “diplomatic initiatives to prevent escalation” and end the war that Tehran characterises as being “imposed” on it by the United States and Israel. The visit, confirmed this morning, places Pakistan once again at the centre of the region’s most consequential diplomatic effort — the same role it played in brokering the brief ceasefire between India and Pakistan exactly a year ago.
The 2026 Iran war began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran under the code name “Operation Epic Fury,” killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several senior military commanders, destroying nuclear and military infrastructure, and triggering a wave of retaliatory Iranian missile and drone attacks across the Middle East. The conflict, which lasted until around May 5 in its most intense phase, left thousands dead in Iran and Lebanon, dozens dead in Israel and Gulf Arab states, and millions of people displaced across the region.
A two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan came into effect on April 8, negotiated between Munir, US Vice President JD Vance, US special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi. But that ceasefire has been shaky — the US subsequently imposed a naval blockade on Iran, and talks on a more durable settlement collapsed at Islamabad. Iranian officials this week insisted that diplomacy is ongoing but that no deal has yet been finalised. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday there are “some good signs” that a peace arrangement can be reached.
In Washington, the war is creating a rare fracture inside the Republican Party. The House of Representatives was forced to abandon a planned vote Thursday on a Democratic-sponsored war powers resolution that would compel President Trump to withdraw from the conflict with Iran, after GOP leaders recognised they lacked the votes to defeat the bill. The measure has also advanced in the Senate, with at least one Republican senator flipping to support it after losing his primary. The constitutional confrontation over executive war-making authority now looms over American politics.
Israel, meanwhile, has continued strikes in Lebanon, where at least 3,111 people have been killed since March 2, with a further 9,432 injured according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Hezbollah has remained in the conflict, and the human cost in Lebanon has drawn mounting criticism from European capitals and UN agencies. With Pakistan’s Munir now back in Tehran, the next 48 to 72 hours will be critical to determining whether a durable ceasefire framework can be assembled — or whether the region slides back into active hostilities.
