Current Situation of US-Iran Deal
As the US and Iran exchanged escalating strikes on June 11, a plane carrying Qatari mediators was stranded on the tarmac in Tehran. They had been engaged in intensive talks through the night, attempting to halt what appeared to be a spiral back into all-out war.
That image — diplomats trapped on a runway while bombs fell — captures the entire peace process in a single frame. PBS NewsHour published the fullest account yet of how Pakistan and Qatar held the Islamabad MOU together through months of threats, strikes, and near-collapses.
“The scene on the runway encapsulated the tumultuous diplomatic process, led by Pakistan and Qatar, that led to last week’s deal to end a war that destabilized the Middle East and damaged the world economy,” PBS reported.
How Pakistan Became the Mediator
Pakistan had not often mediated high-stakes diplomacy, but it borders Iran and has good relations with both Tehran and Washington. “As the US-Iran war began to drag on and both parties became keen to strike a deal, Munir’s unique network across Washington and Tehran became valuable,” said Charles Lyons-Jones, an Australian former diplomat who worked in Pakistan and is now a research fellow at the Lowy Institute.
The negotiations lasted months. According to the Islamabad Memorandum Wikipedia entry, the talks lasted 21 hours between April 11 and 12, 2026, consisting of three rounds — the first indirect, the second and third direct. They ended without a deal. Trump declared a naval blockade.
Then Pakistan tried again. And again. And again. The full arc of those attempts — from Mohsin Naqvi’s Tehran visits to the moment Naqvi saved the Bürgenstock talks from complete collapse — shows a diplomatic effort of unusual persistence.
The Night Trump Almost Destroyed the Deal
On the same day as the scene on the runway, Trump had once again threatened military action, saying the US would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and take “total control” of its oil and gas industry. Regional players launched a desperate push to convince Trump to hold off. Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, spoke directly with Trump and urged him to give diplomacy another chance.
The efforts paid off. Trump announced he had canceled the planned strikes. He later said of the ceasefire: “I wouldn’t have really been in favor of it, but we did it as a favor to Pakistan, who are terrific people.“
That single quote reveals more about the deal’s fragility than any diplomatic cable could. Trump did not want this agreement. He made it because Pakistan asked. And now — with US bombs falling on Iran again and IRGC drones hitting Bahrain — the question is whether Pakistan can ask again and be heard.
The Deal That Was and the Deal That Is
Days later, Washington and Tehran signed an agreement to end the conflict. The deal aimed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lift a US blockade, and set a 60-day deadline for negotiating a broader agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme. PBS confirmed that the Pakistani mediating team was led by PM Shehbaz Sharif, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and FM Ishaq Dar.
The PM Shehbaz and Vance bilateral at Bürgenstock and the Trump praise that followed were the public face of a months-long process that came within hours of collapse multiple times.
Today that deal is under fire — literally. The US struck Iran on Friday. Iran struck back Saturday. Bahrain was hit by drones. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry says it will continue mediating. Whether there is still something to mediate depends on the next 48 hours.
