U.S., Iran Hold Pakistan-Mediated Ceasefire Talks in Islamabad
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- Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf arrived in Islamabad early Saturday (April 11, 2026) and was welcomed at the airport by Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir and Foreign Minister Mohammed Ishaq Dar.
- U.S. team led by Vice President J.D. Vance, joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, followed the Iranian delegation to Islamabad for the mediated ceasefire negotiations.
- The talks aim to cement a permanent ceasefire, building on a two-week ceasefire declared earlier the previous week.
- The New York Times reported on March 24 that the U.S. had delivered a 15-point peace plan to Iran through Pakistan's Gen. Munir, more than three weeks after the U.S. and Israel began bombing the country.
- Gen. Munir had been in direct contact with Iran's IRGC, which the source says emerged more powerful inside Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a U.S.-Israeli strike.
Why it matters: Pakistan's Field Marshal Munir is positioning himself as the indispensable middleman — personally delivering the 15-point plan to Tehran and liaising with the IRGC — giving Islamabad outsized leverage over how this war ends. The fact that Iran's IRGC is now the power center following Khamenei's assassination means any deal Munir brokers carries the paramilitary's imprint, reshaping who actually calls the shots in Tehran.
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