With every passing day, the ongoing exchange of fire between the US and Iran has pushed aside the diplomatic framework that Pakistan spent months constructing. A new wave of American strikes is under way after four consecutive nights of attacks, while Iran has targeted states hosting US forces. Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan have reported incoming missiles or drones. Iranian officials say hundreds were wounded in the latest bombardment and at least 30 people have been killed.
\nAs feared, the fighting is no longer confined to two adversaries\u2013 spreading risks across the Gulf.
\nWashington appears to believe that military pressure can reduce Iran\u2019s capacity to threaten shipping and compel Tehran to accept terms it resisted at the negotiating table. Iran is using missiles, drones and pressure around the Strait of Hormuz to demonstrate that escalation will impose costs on the United States and its allies. Yet neither side has explained how force produces a durable settlement. Military power can destroy launch sites and damage coastal defences; it cannot settle the nuclear dispute, sanctions, regional security arrangements or the future management of Hormuz.
\nIslamabad\u2019s decision to step back and adopt a wait-and-watch posture is understandable. Pakistan invested political capital in keeping channels open and helping produce the Islamabad memorandum. It cannot be expected to manufacture diplomacy while Washington and Tehran remain convinced that battlefield pressure can improve their bargaining positions. Mediation works only when the belligerents are prepared to make political choices that air strikes and retaliation cannot make for them.
\nBut a pause must not become withdrawal. Pakistan shares a long border with Iran, has vital ties with Gulf states and has shown that it can speak to all sides without becoming an extension of any camp. Quiet contacts with Washington, Tehran, Doha, Muscat and Riyadh should continue, even if another high-profile initiative would be premature.
\nThe immediate objective is no longer a grand bargain. It is to prevent attacks on Gulf states, protect commercial navigation, secure a verifiable pause in strikes and reopen negotiations on the nuclear and sanctions disputes.
\nPakistan is right to conserve its diplomatic capital. It must also preserve its relevance. Wars often return to diplomacy only after imposing costs that diplomacy was meant to avert. At the end of the day, the task is to stop those costs from becoming irreversible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With every passing day, the ongoing exchange of fire between the US and Iran has pushed aside the diplomatic framework that Pakistan spent months constructing. A new wave of American strikes is under way after four consecutive nights of attacks, while Iran has targeted states hosting US forces. Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan have reported incoming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-556678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n