ISLAMABAD: US Vice President JD Vance said on Monday Pakistan was involved in diplomatic preparations surrounding the release of a US-Iran peace agreement, offering fresh details about Islamabad’s role in efforts to end months of conflict between Washington and Tehran.
Vance’s comments came after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that Pakistan would host the formal signing ceremony of the agreement in Geneva and as China praised Islamabad for helping promote dialogue between the two sides.
Pakistani officials have said the country acted as a key intermediary during negotiations, relaying messages and proposals between Washington and Tehran as both sides sought an end to a conflict that began in February.
Vance mentioned Pakistan in an interview with Fox News when asked why the memorandum of understanding ending the conflict had not yet been released publicly.
“There are some diplomatic protocols, there is some sequencing that the Pakistanis have been involved in this, the Qataris have been involved,” Vance told Fox News in response.
“What the president says is the agreement will come out on Friday,” he added. “He may decide to release the agreement sooner than that. But we have this formal ceremony on Friday and that’s when the president wants to release it.”
President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have both said the agreement will be formally signed in Geneva on Friday.
Trump has said the accord will permanently end military operations between the US and Iran, while Iranian officials have described it as a framework for broader negotiations on a final settlement.
According to Pakistan’s state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, China has also reiterated its appreciation for Pakistan’s role in the process.
Responding to a question about Islamabad’s mediation efforts, China’s foreign ministry said, according to APP, that Beijing welcomed Pakistan’s “initiative and sense of responsibility” in promoting peace and ending hostilities and said it had played an important role in facilitating US-Iran negotiations.
Pakistan hosted the first round of direct US-Iran talks in Islamabad in April and remained engaged with both governments throughout subsequent negotiations.
The war erupted in February after US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered a wider regional conflict.
The fighting disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy corridor through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass, pushing up global energy prices and raising concerns about inflation and supply chains.
Trump said this week that shipping had resumed through the strait after the agreement, while Iranian and US officials said a memorandum of understanding had already been signed electronically ahead of Friday’s formal ceremony.
The full text of the agreement has not yet been released, though both sides have indicated it addresses maritime security and future negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
