In an unprecedented way, Pakistan has not let hope down in trying to create space for peace between Iran and the United States. At a moment when the region seemed locked in a cycle of suspicion, Pakistan has kept the conversation alive. Since the war erupted after the February assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader, Islamabad has done far more than issue the customary calls for restraint that middle powers usually content themselves with. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has shuttled to Tehran again and again - most recently to press Iranian officials to accept the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding that Pakistan and Qatar brokered in June. Iran's own Interior Minister, Eskandar Momeni, has reciprocated with visits to Pakistan. Tehran and Washington have repeatedly said that the credit of the mediation between them goes entirely to Pakistan.

This is not a new story. Pakistan has played this role before. In 1971, when the United States and China had no direct channel, Pakistan became the bridge. It was Islamabad that facilitated Henry Kissinger's secret visit to Beijing – a moment that changed the architecture of global politics. That episode is not just a historical anecdote; it is part of Pakistan's diplomatic overture. It showed that........

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