The clock is ticking in Islamabad. Iranian Foreign Minister, along with senior delegations from the United States and Iran, will sit down for the second phase of Pakistan-mediated peace talks, a devel-opment that represents perhaps Washington’s clearest and final opportunity to extract itself from a conflict it never anticipated would last this long. The road that has brought both sides to this moment is long and littered with missed turning points, each one a potential exit that the United States either ignored or failed to recognize in time. Now, with the midterm elections looming and global energy markets already feeling the strain, the value of Pakistan’s quiet but persistent backdoor diplomacy has never been more apparent.

To understand why the stakes are so high, one must rewind six months. In June 2025, following a brief but intense confrontation led by Israel, US forces launched major strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities. President Trump, in his characteristic fashion, took to Truth Social to declare victory. “Monumental damage was done to all nuclear sites in Iran,” he wrote. “Obliteration is an accurate term.” This was a classic exit point. The administration had achieved a key objective: Iran’s nuclear infrastructure had suffered a serious, if not fatal, blow. Leaders change, regimes evolve, but a military target, once destroyed, stays destroyed. Washington continued to escalate the situation rather........

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