From the margins to the middle: Pakistan’s role in the Iran war

When the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Egypt landed in Islamabad on March 29, 2026, much of the international media reached for the same word: unexpected. The AP wire described Pakistan as an “unexpected mediator.” Foreign Policy’s Michael Kugelman, an otherwise careful South Asia analyst, opened his piece with the caveat that “Pakistan might seem an unlikely mediator.” Pakistani analyst Zahid Hussain went further, demoting Islamabad to a “messenger rather than a mediator.” The framing is consistent across the commentary, and it is wrong in a way that tells us more about the analytical blind spots of those applying it than about Pakistan itself. Pakistan has never not been relevant to Gulf and regional politics. What has changed […]