Pakistan military 'cautiously optimistic' on Iran-US mediation after Munir's second Tehran trip
Pakistan's military spokesman says Field Marshal Asim Munir's two trips to Tehran this month are a positive sign, and that the Makkah defence pact does not bar new members, including Iran.
Pakistan's military has said it is "cautiously optimistic" about its mediation between Iran and the United States, in the first interview given by its spokesman since a high-level delegation visited Tehran this week.
Speaking in Rawalpindi on Friday, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry pointed to the repeated trips to Tehran by Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan's chief of defence forces and chief of army staff, as a reason for guarded hope. Munir has travelled to the Iranian capital twice this month, most recently on Monday, in Pakistan's effort to de-escalate a war between Iran and the United States that has now run for eight months.
Asked whether the visits were a positive sign, Chaudhry replied: "Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course." He added that the phrase Pakistan's military would always use was "cautiously optimistic", a wording that deliberately leaves room for setbacks as well as progress.
Monday's delegation was notable for its composition. Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin travelled to Tehran alongside Munir, making it the first high-level contact between Iran and all members of the Makkah defence alliance since Saudi Arabia was drawn deeper into the conflict. The alliance, signed on August 7, treats an armed attack on one member as an attack on all of them.
Chaudhry declined to say what was discussed in Tehran, or whether the United States had backed the trip. That silence is itself significant: mediators in a live conflict usually keep the substance of talks private while they are still under way, and any public claim about Washington's position could complicate the next round of contacts.
The interview also opened a door that had previously been left shut, at least in public. Asked whether Iran could join the Makkah pact, Chaudhry said its wording did not bar new members. "Anyone who has a shared vision of collective deterrence and regional peace, why not? Everyone is most welcome," he said, while stressing that any such decision would rest with the political leadership of the three principal parties.
After Monday's talks, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said regional security should be ensured by regional countries without foreign intervention. That statement, and Chaudhry's remarks about the pact, point in the same direction: a regional security arrangement in which Iran is treated as a participant in the conversation rather than only as the subject of it.
Chaudhry also addressed the limits of Pakistan's commitments. Asked whether more Pakistani troops would be sent to Saudi Arabia under the agreement, he said that would depend on the situation and on decisions by the political leadership of both countries. He said Pakistan was committed to defending Saudi Arabia and the holy sites of Makkah and Madina, but added: "We are not part of the Yemeni conflict, which is an intra-Yemen conflict."
There were still, he said, "powerful spoilers and detractors" who believed conflict served them, though he did not name them. The remark underlines why the military is framing its optimism as cautious: even if the main parties want a pause, other actors with an interest in continued fighting could still disrupt it.
On the home front, Chaudhry was asked whether the imposition of emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would lead to larger military-led campaigns there. He said that was not how the army conducted counter-terrorism, explaining that its operations were based on intelligence-based operations, known as IBOs, and that the tempo and freedom of action of those operations would increase further.
What happens next will depend on whether the Tehran contacts produce a further round of talks, and on whether the parallel diplomatic tracks involving Qatar and other mediators converge on a workable pause. A further visit, a public statement from Tehran or Washington, or a quiet period in which no new strikes are reported would each be read as a sign that the mediation is gaining ground. A return to escalation, by contrast, would test whether the cautious optimism expressed in Rawalpindi survives contact with events on the ground.
For now, the interview marks a shift from silence to a carefully measured public signal: Pakistan believes its mediation has something to build on, but it is not yet ready to declare a breakthrough.
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