ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Pakistan’s chief of army staff and shuttle diplomat is set to visit the Iranian capital on Thursday, a day after Tehran confirmed it is reviewing a new response received from Washington via Islamabad. The visit comes amid sharp public exchanges between American and Iranian officials, as the window for reaching a deal appears to be narrowing.
“Field Marshal Asim Munir, Commander of the Pakistani Army, is travelling to Tehran today to continue talks and consultations with Iranian officials, acting as a mediator between Tehran and Washington,” the state-affiliated Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported, without providing further details.
The visit comes a day after Iranian foreign ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei confirmed on Wednesday that “the exchange of messages continues between Iran and the US through the Pakistani mediator, and based on the same initial 14-point Iranian text, the exchange of messages has taken place over several rounds.”
“We received the views of the American side, and they are under review,” the senior diplomat said in an interview with Iranian state broadcaster.
He further emphasized that the current focus is on ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, while also calling for the unfreezing of Iranian assets and an end to US actions against Iranian shipping.
The trip by the Pakistani army chief comes days after Islamabad’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi made back-to-back diplomatic visits to Tehran within the past week, beginning a two-day trip on Saturday during which he met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials.
Naqvi returned to Tehran on Wednesday for another round of rapid meetings amid a fast-moving back-channel effort to keep the US-Iran talks from collapsing.
The intensified efforts by the Pakistani mediator comes amid high-toned public messaging by American and Iranian officials.
US Vice President JD Vance reiterated on Tuesday that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” adding that Trump had instructed the American negotiating team to “aggressively negotiate with the Iranians.”
While noting that significant progress had been made and that “the Iranians want to make a deal,” Vance warned that “option B” is still on the table, referring to the possibility of restarting a military campaign “to achieve US objectives.”
Earlier that day, Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he was “an hour away from making the decision [to strike Iran] to go today,” warning that he could make the decision again within “two or three days” if a deal does not materialize.
On Monday, the US president said he would “hold off” on attacking Iran at the request of three Gulf state leaders: the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani; the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud; and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump added, however, that he had instructed US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Daniel Caine, and the US military to remain prepared to carry out a “full-scale, large-scale assault on Iran at a moment’s notice” if “an acceptable deal is not reached.”
Meanwhile in Tehran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that “although they [United States and Israel] attacked us with the full capabilities of two armies, the most expensive in the world, we did not deploy all the capacities of the Islamic revolution against them.”
“If aggression against Iran is repeated, the regional war… will this time be extended beyond the region,” the IRGC warned, adding, “We are men of war, and you will see our power on the battlefield, not in hollow statements or social media pages.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the same day remarked that “with lessons learned and knowledge we gained, return to war will feature many more surprises.”
Similarly, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf warned, in an audio message addressed to the Iranian people on Wednesday, that the US-Israeli “enemy has not given up its military objectives and is seeking a new round of war and fresh adventurism.”
“In the face of such a plan, we must shatter the enemy’s miscalculations by enhancing our preparedness for a powerful and effective response to any possible attacks, and by increasing our economic resilience, thereby disappointing the enemy’s hope for Iran’s surrender,” Ghalibaf added.
The current mediation effort by Pakistan follows months of conflict after the US and Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign against Iran in late February, striking thousands of targets across the country.
Iran responded with drone and missile attacks across the region, targeting US-linked positions and Israeli sites, before both sides agreed to a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire on April 8.
Although a first round of talks in Islamabad on April 11 ended without a final agreement, subsequent negotiations have continued indirectly.
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