PAKISTAN PERSPECTIVE

Islamabad, June 13, 2026. Pakistan does not merely watch the Iran-US drama from the sidelines — Islamabad positions itself as a claimed arbiter. On Friday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif posted on X an unequivocal statement: "We can confirm that a final and agreed text of the peace agreement has been reached, and Pakistan is now working in close collaboration with both parties to finalize the next steps." The phrasing is deliberately solemn, tagging presidents Trump and Khamenei alongside other leaders from both camps. "Peace has never been closer," Sharif added.

This statement comes in a tense context: since mid-March, Trump has issued repeated announcements of the accord's imminent arrival without concrete results. This time, the US president declared Thursday at the White House: "We just achieved a tremendous settlement of the war with Iran." He specified that the Strait of Hormuz "will officially open as soon as we sign, which could be soon — this weekend in Europe" and that Vice President JD Vance could sign on behalf of the United States.

But Tehran immediately pushes back. Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, stated that a "large part" of the text is finalized while carefully adding: "We have not reached a conclusion on this matter." The state agency IRNA, for its part, describes accord-related elements as "speculation." A sign that both teams are not reading the same document.

This would complicate Pakistan's moment of glory: leaks about the memorandum's content, relayed by Western, Pakistani, and Iranian sources, point to terms highly favorable to Tehran. Trump himself reacted by calling these reports "inaccurate," straining talks at the precise moment Islamabad seeks to play guarantor. The Express Tribune notes that Saudis had explicitly called for Pakistan-Qatar leadership to restart dialogue — proof that Islamabad's mediator role is recognized regionally, yet also circumscribed by other actors.

For Pakistan, the stakes extend beyond symbolism. An agreement reopening the Strait of Hormuz, through which a crucial share of regional energy supplies flows, would have direct effects on oil prices and thus on a Pakistani economy under pressure. The three-month conflict has "killed thousands and driven global energy prices sharply higher," Dawn reminds. Islamabad thus has economic and diplomatic interest in resolving this file — explaining Shehbaz Sharif's personal commitment, including explicit references to a "disinformation campaign" by those seeking to sabotage the accord.