Pakistan ‘doing its utmost’ to bring U.S., Iran back to negotiating table: Foreign Office
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- Pakistan's Foreign Office said it was "doing its utmost" to revive US-Iran negotiations under the Islamabad MoU signed June 18, referencing both the MoU and the Pakistan-Qatar joint statement of June 22 as diplomatic frameworks.
- Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi welcomed a "relative lull" in hostilities but warned of a "precarious security situation" in West Asia, urging Washington and Tehran to exercise maximum restraint and resume technical-level talks.
- The Islamabad MoU envisaged reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the conflict after a further 60 days of negotiations, following US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began in February.
- The agreement collapsed after Iran attacked commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz on July 7, including a Qatari LNG tanker, accusing the US of violating the deal; several waves of US strikes on Iranian military targets followed.
- The conflict widened beyond the original fronts, with Yemen's Houthis imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, explosions at an Egyptian natural gas loading port on July 29, a US-owned floating storage tanker hit by drone, and joint US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq.
- On July 30, the US struck Iran again in retaliation for Tehran targeting American bases in Jordan; hours later, Kuwait reported an Iranian attack on a Chinese company's building that killed one worker and caused extensive material damage.
Why it matters: Pakistan is positioning itself as the primary broker for a conflict that has already expanded from the original US-Iran theater into at least six countries — Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen — with the Islamabad MoU's 60-day negotiation window now strained by fresh attacks on commercial shipping, energy infrastructure, and military bases on the very day diplomacy was being publicly reaffirmed.
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