{"id":205177,"date":"2026-03-24T09:50:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pakistan-moves-to-mediate-between-the-u-s-and-iran-as-trump-says-hes-giving-it-five-days-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T09:50:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:50:42","slug":"pakistan-moves-to-mediate-between-the-u-s-and-iran-as-trump-says-hes-giving-it-five-days-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pakistan-moves-to-mediate-between-the-u-s-and-iran-as-trump-says-hes-giving-it-five-days-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan moves to mediate between the U.S. and Iran as Trump says he's 'giving it five days' – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
Pakistan<\/a> is joining a growing list of countries acting as go-betweens for the United States and Iran<\/a>, four sources told NBC News, with two of those sources saying an in-person meeting could be held in the coming days in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
A diplomatic source said Pakistan is in conversations with both the U.S. and Iran and is \u201cwell poised to play an active role\u201d in discussions to end the war, which has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced millions as it enters its fourth week. A Gulf official said Pakistan had been passing messages between the two countries for the past two days.
For the first time since the conflict began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, President Donald Trump<\/a> said Monday that the U.S. and Iran had held \u201cvery good and productive conversations\u201d and that the discussions would \u201ccontinue throughout the week.\u201d The announcement<\/a> was an about-face from the president\u2019s stark ultimatum <\/a>over the weekend demanding that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> within 48 hours or the U.S. would \u201cobliterate\u201d the country\u2019s power plants.
\u201cWe\u2019re doing a five-day period. We\u2019ll see how that goes, and if it goes well, we\u2019re going to end up with settling this,\u201d Trump told reporters of his decision to postpone U.S. strikes on Iran\u2019s energy infrastructure. \u201cOtherwise, we\u2019ll keep bombing our little hearts out.\u201d
Senior Iranian officials including Iran\u2019s parliament speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, denied <\/a>Monday that negotiations were taking place and accused Trump of trying to \u201cmanipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the U.S. and Israel are trapped.\u201d
But Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acknowledged to official news agency IRNA that Iran had received messages in recent days from \u201ccertain friendly states conveying the U.S. request for negotiations to end the war,\u201d and that appropriate responses had been given.
Trump touts progress in talks with Iran
Pakistan, which is embroiled in its own deadly conflict<\/a> with neighboring Afghanistan<\/a>, is one of at least three countries \u2014 along with Turkey and Egypt \u2014 that are acting as intermediaries between the U.S. and Iran, according to a source familiar with the diplomatic efforts.
Iran\u2019s effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route along its southern coast that carries about a fifth of the world\u2019s oil, has been devastating for Asia<\/a>, and especially Pakistan. The South Asian country of about 260 million people relies on Gulf states for the vast majority of its crude oil imports and almost all of its liquified natural gas<\/a>.
A Middle East diplomat who has been briefed on the possible indirect negotiations between the U.S. and Iran said that \u201cthere are talks about talks\u201d and that there might be a meeting in Islamabad.
Asked about a potential meeting between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan, the diplomatic source said diplomacy was in \u201cfull swing\u201d but that there were multiple proposals and nothing had been confirmed.
The White House did not confirm whether Pakistan was acting as an intermediary with Iran.
\u201cThese are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the U.S. will not negotiate through the press,\u201d press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. \u201cThis is a fluid situation, and speculation about meetings should not be deemed as final until they are formally announced by the White House.\u201d
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif <\/a>spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian<\/a> on Monday and \u201cconveyed his serious concern over the dangerous ongoing hostilities in the Gulf region.\u201d
\u201cIn view of this grave situation, the Prime Minister underscored the urgent need to work collectively for de-escalation and a return to dialogue and diplomacy amongst all the neighboring countries to settle their differences,\u201d according to a readout<\/a> from Pakistan\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
\u201cWhile sharing with the Iranian President the diplomatic outreach efforts of Pakistan\u2019s leadership, the Prime Minister assured the Iranian leadership that Pakistan would continue to play a constructive role in facilitating peace in the region,\u201d it added.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr. Badr Abdelatty also held separate calls with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday, along with the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar.
\u201cMinister Abdel-Aty stressed during the discussions the importance of restraint and wisdom at this critical juncture,\u201d according to a readout<\/a> from Egypt\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, \u201cas well as the importance of ensuring the security of maritime navigation and preventing any obstruction of it, in light of its regional and international economic repercussions and its impact on trade, supply chains, and oil and food prices.\u201d
On Monday, Trump referred to the discussions between the U.S. and Iran as \u201cpreliminary\u201d but expressed optimism that the two sides could reach an agreement.
\u201cI think there\u2019s a very good chance we\u2019re going to end up in a deal,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so we\u2019re giving it five days, and then we\u2019re going to see where that takes us.\u201d
Pakistan has been positioning itself for just this kind of role in the Middle East, said Abdul Basit, a senior associate fellow at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University\u2019s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
Last September, Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact<\/a> with Saudi Arabia, without whose blessing it would not be able to host Iran talks, Basit said.
Pakistan has also been helped by its good relations with Trump, who hosted its powerful army chief Asim Munir at the White House last year \u2014 to the irritation of Pakistan\u2019s archrival India.
\u201cI think that played a very crucial role in what we are seeing now,\u201d Basit said.
He said there was a \u201cfair possibility of de-escalation,\u201d with any potential talks providing a \u201cface-saving\u201d opportunity for the U.S., Israel and Iran.
\u201cI think the Trump administration finds itself in a corner,\u201d Basit said. \u201cThey need an exit.\u201d
But \u201cwhatever happens after this,\u201d he said, \u201cthe Middle East will never be the same.\u201d
Abigail Williams is a producer and reporter for NBC News covering the State Department.
Natasha Lebedeva is NBC’s Senior Director for International Affairs, based in Washington.
Monica Alba is a White House correspondent for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timePakistan is joining a growing list of countries acting as go-betweens for the United States and Iran, four sources told NBC News, with two of those sources saying an in-person meeting could be held in the coming days in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.A diplomatic source said Pakistan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":205178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-205177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}