Following the question posed in the title of this piece, the next one is: how ready is Pakistan to align with the new realities that have emerged in the wake of the Iran–US/Israel war? To answer that, we must first determine what has fundamentally changed, and to do that, we need to map out clearly how things stood before this change.

Before the war began on 28 February 2026, Iran was isolated in the region. Its relations with neighbouring countries were limited, if not downgraded. It was given little importance in regional affairs, let alone global matters. The region and the world viewed Iran as a dilapidated economy crushed by decades of sanctions, its society primitive and open to criticism, particularly on the treatment of women. Militarily, it was considered weak, with no modern air force or war machinery: a country ruled by the clergy whose ideas were worlds apart from what the world considered a modern society.

Regionally, particularly in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia positioned itself as the leader of the Muslim world — owing to its large economy and landmass, its close ties with the West, and its custodianship of the two Holy Mosques. Just across the strait, the UAE shone in its glory, with Dubai as the centre of the world’s attention. These countries, and their smaller neighbours, lived in the blissful warmth and protection of the US security umbrella — invincible, untouchable, never even open to scrutiny or critical evaluation.

This is what the world was accustomed to, as was Pakistan. Global policy, as well as Pakistan’s own, was aligned to this status quo.

On the military side, the US dominated the seas with its formidable fleet of aircraft carriers, which, once stationed off a country’s shore, could press an outcome of its liking without........

© The Friday Times