Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s call for restraint and sustained diplomacy amid the latest escalation between Washington and Tehran deserves serious attention. At a moment when the Middle East is once again edging towards a wider conflict, the instinct of governments must not be to answer every military action with another military action. The consequences of such a cycle will extend far beyond the immediate protagonists. Pakistan’s position is both principled and pragmatic. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the parties to step back from confrontation and return to dialogue, while offering its own good offices to facilitate communication. This is not merely a diplomatic slogan. Pakistan has a direct interest in preventing another prolonged regional war. The latest escalation demonstrates how quickly a contained confrontation can acquire a life of its own. Military strikes may produce tactical gains, but they rarely resolve the political disputes that caused a crisis in the first place. Worse, retaliation creates new grievances and makes compromise politically harder for all sides. The danger is particularly acute in the Gulf. Any disruption to shipping, energy supplies or regional infrastructure would have consequences well beyond the battlefield. Countries already struggling with economic pressures would face higher energy and transport costs, while fragile economies across Asia could suffer from renewed inflation and supply-chain disruption. For Pakistan, the stakes are especially high. Islamabad has long standing relations with both Iran and the Arab Gulf states, while maintaining important ties with the United States. A broader conflict would therefore place Pakistan in an increasingly difficult diplomatic position. It could also create economic, security and humanitarian pressures along Pakistan’s western frontier. This is why Islamabad’s emphasis on diplomacy should be accompanied by sustained diplomatic engagement. Pakistan should work with countries that retain channels to Washington and Tehran and encourage them to keep those channels open. Quiet diplomacy may not produce dramatic headlines, but it is often precisely what becomes indispensable when........

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