On Saturday morning, in the tree-lined diplomatic quarter of a capital better known for coups and crises than for brokering great-power peace, Vice President JD Vance will sit down with senior Iranian officials for the first direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran since the war began on Feb. 28. The meeting, hosted by Pakistan and involving Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on the American side, carries the weight of a region already scarred by nearly six weeks of fighting, at least 3,800 dead and an economic shock that has sent oil prices soaring and left hundreds of ships idling in the Persian Gulf.
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Pakistan’s top leaders review mediation drive as US and Iranian delegations head to Islamabad for high-stakes talks
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of army staff and chief of defence forces, met Thursday to review the country’s mediation efforts aimed at forging a lasting peace between the United States and Iran, just a day before delegations from both nations are expected to arrive here for direct negotiations.
Nepra raises electricity tariffs by Rs1.42 a unit on February fuel costs
ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority has increased electricity tariffs by Rs1.42 per unit under the monthly fuel-cost adjustment mechanism, reflecting higher fuel charges incurred in February 2026.
World leaders thank Pakistan for halting U.S.-Iran fighting and reopening Strait of Hormuz
ISLAMABAD: World leaders, European governments and international institutions on Wednesday thanked Pakistan for its central role in brokering a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran, a fragile pause in weeks of fighting that had threatened to choke off global energy supplies and destabilize the Middle East.
Imran Khan holds court-ordered jail meeting with lawyer as opposition alliance postpones protest and demands releases, dialogue
ISLAMABAD: Barrister Salman Safdar, the lawyer representing former prime minister Imran Khan in the Al Qadir Trust case, met Thursday with the imprisoned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder inside Adiala jail, one day after the Islamabad High Court ordered prison authorities to arrange the encounter.
Opposition leaders rally behind government’s mediation in US-Iran ceasefire, calling off planned protest
ISLAMABAD: In a striking display of cross-party unity rarely seen in Pakistan’s polarised parliament, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly on Wednesday offered the government unconditional support for its diplomatic efforts to help secure a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, while the main opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, abruptly canceled a major protest rally scheduled for the following day.
China says Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to halt escalation after week of talks in Xinjiang
ISLAMABAD: China said on Wednesday Pakistan and Afghanistan have committed to preventing any further escalation in their simmering border conflict, following a week of informal trilateral meetings hosted by Beijing in the Xinjiang region.
US and Iran set for direct talks in Islamabad on Friday, testing fragile two-week truce
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said delegations from Washington and Tehran would arrive in the Pakistani capital as soon as Friday at his invitation, aiming to transform a fragile two-week ceasefire into a lasting settlement.
Pakistan Brokers a Breather — Now Comes the Hard Part
The announcement came just before dawn in Islamabad on Wednesday: a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran, brokered at the last possible minute by Pakistani officials who understood what Washington’s bluster had obscured. President Trump had warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran refused to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his deadline. Instead, the pause arrived not through American firepower but through quiet Pakistani channels — a small circle of diplomats and military leaders who shuttled messages between adversaries who no longer trusted each other to speak directly. Iran agreed to coordinate safe passage through the strait, the artery carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil. The United States suspended its strikes. And both sides, predictably, declared victory.
Trump and Iran accept Pakistan-brokered two-week pause in fighting, with talks set for Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Wednesday that the United States and Iran, along with their allies, had reached an immediate ceasefire across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, after weeks of intensifying conflict that began with American and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in late February.