The Pulse | Diplomacy | South Asia

The Islamabad Memorandum Returns to the Spotlight

For Pakistan, the coming days will test whether its mediation capacity can keep pace with a conflict that continues to expand in both geography and complexity.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) shakes hands with Iranian President Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian at their meeting on the sidelines of the UNGA meeting in New York, Sept. 24, 2026.

The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that Pakistan helped negotiate between Iran and the U.S. in June and which had largely dropped out of public discussion in recent months is back in the news again. The renewed attention on the MoU, however, does not necessarily indicate a clear pathway toward a lasting de-escalation of the conflict. Rather, it signals a new high level of endorsement since its signing in June.

The Pakistan-mediated 14-point interim understanding that Washington and Tehran endorsed was intended to halt the armed hostilities, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and create space for broader talks on nuclear and other issues. Its recent return to high-level conversations during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) summit in New York suggests that, despite repeated setbacks, the agreement still serves as the primary reference point for those seeking to prevent further escalation.

The latest references to the MoU emerged largely at meetings held on the sidelines of this year’s UNGA. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, speaking after discussions with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, stated that the entire Pakistani leadership remained united in its resolve to expedite the peace efforts outlined in the Islamabad MoU. Pezeshkian, for his part, reaffirmed that the memorandum remained “totally acceptable” to Iran and that Tehran was ready to take it forward. These remarks, delivered after weeks of relative quiet, signaled that both sides of the original mediation still viewed the document as a viable baseline for de-escalation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping added further weight to the MoU during his state visit to the United States last week. In talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Xi expressed support for the U.S. and Iran returning to the June deal that was meant to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He also said that both parties should resolve differences through dialogue and negotiation and reach a comprehensive agreement that included the nuclear issue.

Amid this renewed focus on the June agreement, President Xi’s intervention carried particular significance because it came amid broader discussions on global economic stability. The Chinese leader also noted that new economic and trade arrangements between Beijing and Washington represented positive news for the economies and peoples of both countries and for the world economy at large. By linking regional de-escalation to the condition of the global economy, Xi underscored that the prolonged crisis in West Asia carries costs that go far beyond the immediate theater of conflict.

While these high-level statements are important, developments on the ground indicate that negotiations have not gathered significant momentum. For instance, Iranian officials held three hours of talks with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on the sidelines of UNGA. This was the first such contact since U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance met an Iranian delegation in Switzerland in June to advance the memorandum. The meeting itself produced no public breakthrough, but its occurrence after months of silence suggested........

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