Pakistani military ‘cautiously optimistic’ on success of its Iran-US mediation

Pakistan’s military is “cautiously optimistic” about its mediation between Iran and the United States, its spokesman says in his first interview since a high-level delegation visited Tehran this week.

Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir — Pakistan’s chief mediator in its efforts to de-escalate the now eight-month-old Iran war — has been to Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday alongside Saudi and Turkish officials.

“Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course,” spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry says when asked whether the trips are a positive sign.

“The word that we would use is always cautiously optimistic,” adds Chaudhry, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations.

There are still “powerful spoilers and detractors,” who believe conflict serves them, he adds, without naming them.

Speaking in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan’s armed forces are headquartered, Chaudhry declines to say what was discussed or whether the United States had backed the trip.

Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin joined Munir in Tehran on Monday.