Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran on Saturday on a previously unannounced two-day visit aimed at revitalising stalled peace negotiations between the United States and Iran, as the fragile ceasefire holding since early April showed signs of strain. The visit was received by Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and came just days after Pakistani army chief Asim Munir had also visited the Iranian capital, underscoring Islamabad's sustained diplomatic engagement as one of the few parties trusted by both sides.

Pakistan has positioned itself as a central mediator in the conflict that erupted when the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on 28 February, prompting Iranian counter-attacks and, eventually, a ceasefire brokered with Pakistani assistance on 8 April. Islamabad hosted a high-level meeting between American and Iranian delegations last month, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed optimism in an interview with The Times of London that a second direct round of talks could still take place. "Pakistan enjoys the trust of all parties — Iran, the US administration and international leadership," Sharif said, describing the mediating role as "a shining moment in our history."

The diplomatic push comes at a precarious moment. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated bluntly in an interview with Al Jazeera that Tehran "cannot trust Americans at all" due to contradictory signals from Washington, insisting that any deal must be defined with full clarity before it can be concluded. On the American side, President Donald Trump indicated some flexibility, telling French broadcaster BFMTV that he could accept a 20-year suspension of Iranian uranium enrichment if Tehran provided a credible guarantee — a softening of his earlier demand for permanent dismantlement of Iran's nuclear programme. Yet Trump also dismissed Tehran's most recent proposal and posted an ominous image of warships on his Truth Social platform captioned "the calm before the storm," while senior aides have reportedly drawn up contingency plans for a resumption of military strikes.

At the heart of the deadlock is the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally pass. Iran has effectively disrupted shipping through the strait since the February strikes, triggering what analysts have described as the worst oil supply crisis on record. Tehran has said it will not reopen the strait until the United States lifts a naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports since 13 April. Iran's parliament national security committee chairman Ebrahim Azizi announced that Tehran was preparing a formal mechanism to regulate traffic through a designated corridor, available only to commercial vessels and parties cooperating with Iran, with fees charged for the service. Iran's first vice president Mohammad Reza Aref framed control over the strait as a geopolitical achievement, saying Iran would no longer permit the passage of military equipment that could be used against it.

Why this matters: Pakistan's shuttle diplomacy represents one of the few active channels keeping negotiations alive in a conflict that has already killed more than 1,260 people in Tehran alone, disrupted global energy markets, and drawn in regional and global powers including Russia and China. Russian President Vladimir Putin and UAE leader Mohammed bin Zayed discussed the conflict by phone on Saturday, both sides emphasising the need for "compromise-based peace agreements." With Trump publicly leaving open the door to renewed strikes and Israeli military sources quoted as placing the odds of war resuming at roughly even, the coming days of Pakistani-mediated contacts may prove critical to determining whether diplomacy or escalation defines the next phase of the crisis.