The Pulse | Diplomacy | South Asia

Pakistan Adopts Wait-and-Watch Approach as US and Iran Return to Hostilities

Pakistan continues to view the Islamabad MoU that it facilitated as the most viable framework for de-escalation.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signs the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding as guarantor after U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the document electronically, Islamabad, Pakistan, June 18, 2026.

The latest round of military hostilities between Iran and the United States marks a dangerous escalation in the conflict and has raised fresh concerns in an already volatile region.

Iran claims to have targeted key American military assets in the region, while the U.S. says it has been hitting important Iranian military facilities for over a week now. Tragically, the latest military exchanges have resulted in civilian casualties, including an attack near a children’s cancer hospital in Iran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry described the attack as “barbaric” and accused the United States of committing a “cowardly war crime.”

The U.S. has once again imposed a blockade on Iranian oil exports while Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to oil shipments from Gulf countries. Oil prices are expected to rise once again as the region and the wider world watch the situation with apprehension.

More particularly, the latest flare-up has put the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire efforts and the broader agreement between Washington and Tehran back in the spotlight. Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts led to the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in June. The key question now is what role Pakistan can play in steering both sides back toward the Islamabad MoU, which paved the way for potential technical-level talks.

Despite the renewed hostilities, Pakistan apparently continues to view the Islamabad MoU as the viable framework for de-escalation in the days and weeks to come. “We call upon the parties to return to the formula that was agreed upon in the form of the Islamabad MoU and the implementation roadmap in the Pakistan-Qatar Joint Statement of June 22, 2026,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said.

“The logic of the Islamabad MoU still exists,” Andrabi said, adding: “Whenever the parties feel that their logic of escalation is exhausted, the return to peace will be through the template provided in the Islamabad MoU. Peace never dies, and, in the same vein, the relevance of the Islamabad MoU continues. We hope that the rationality of peace and dialogue will overcome the logic of escalation.”

Arguably, the statement reflects both concern and cautious optimism.

For instance, while acknowledging the implementation challenges of the MoU, Pakistan has seemingly rejected any suggestions that its mediation efforts have failed. Moreover, this carefully worded Pakistani position carries subtle disappointment over the Iran-U.S. return to confrontation.

At the same time, by reaffirming the MoU as the enduring framework, Islamabad is trying to signal that the current escalation is a temporary diversion.........

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