Pakistan Army 'Cautiously Optimistic' on Iran US Mediation After Munir Tehran Visits, DG ISPR Says

Photo: Iranian presidency handout via Al Jazeera

Pakistan's army says it is "cautiously optimistic" about its mediation between Iran and the United States, its spokesman told the Reuters news agency on Friday, 30 October 2026, in the first public comments from the military since a high level delegation visited Tehran this week.

Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations, spoke in Rawalpindi, where Pakistan's armed forces are based. He said there were positive signs in the push to calm the eight month old Iran war, but he also warned that some parties still want the fighting to go on.

Main News Report

Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan's chief mediator in the effort to ease the Iran war, has been to Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday, 26 October, alongside Saudi and Turkish officials. Reuters reports that Chaudhry was asked whether those trips were a positive sign, and he replied: "Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course."

"The word that we would use is always cautiously optimistic," Chaudhry added, according to Al Jazeera, which carried the Reuters interview. He would not say what was discussed in Tehran, or whether the United States had backed the trip.

Chaudhry also warned that the mediation still faces resistance. "There are still powerful spoilers and detractors, who believe conflict serves them," he said, without naming any party. His comments came as Qatari mediators arrived in Tehran in a fresh bid to revive the June ceasefire, which collapsed months later.

Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin joined Munir in Tehran on Monday. Their two countries signed a joint defence pact with Pakistan on 7 August, the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, under which an attack on any signatory is treated as an attack on all.

Background Context

Pakistan's role as a go between has grown as the Iran war has redrawn alliances across the region. The war began on 28 February, when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and it has since spilled into shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran aligned Houthi group.

Iran has pushed back against outside peace ideas in recent days. It rejected a set of Qatar backed proposals as unacceptable, as reported in an earlier PakInsight Hub story, Iran rejects Qatar peace deal ideas as unacceptable. At the same time, tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have come under attack, with Iran saying four tankers hit mines, as covered in Iran says four tankers hit mines in Strait of Hormuz.

The cost of the war keeps rising too. The Pentagon has said the Iran war has cost United States taxpayers 47.1 billion dollars so far, as reported in Pentagon says Iran war has cost US taxpayers 47.1 billion dollars so far. That bill is one more reason regional states want a way out, even if none has held yet.

A short timeline of the mediation effort so far:

• 28 February 2026: the United States and Israel launch the war on Iran.
• June 2026: a ceasefire is agreed, then collapses months later.
• 7 August 2026: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye sign the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement.
• 26 October 2026: Munir visits Tehran for a second time this month, with the Saudi defence minister and the Turkish intelligence chief.
• 30 October 2026: Qatari mediators arrive in Tehran, and Pakistan's military spokesman speaks to Reuters.

Reactions and Statements

Chaudhry was asked whether Iran could join the Mecca pact. He said the wording of the agreement does not bar new members. "Anyone who has a shared vision of collective deterrence and regional peace, why not? Everyone is most welcome," he said, adding that it would be for the political leaders of the three main parties to decide.

On whether more Pakistani troops would be sent to Saudi Arabia under the pact, he said that would depend on the situation and on a decision by the political leaders of both countries. He stressed that Pakistan is committed to defending Saudi Arabia and the holy sites of Mecca and Medina.

"We are not part of the Yemeni conflict, which is an intra-Yemen conflict," Chaudhry said, drawing a clear line between the Saudi defence pact and the war in Yemen. After Monday's Tehran talks, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said regional security should be ensured by regional countries without foreign intervention.

Why This News Matters

This is the first time Pakistan's military has put its own name to a hopeful note on the mediation, and it comes from the spokesman himself, not from an unnamed source. That matters because Munir is the man doing the shuttling, and his own camp is now saying, in public, that the trips are worth making.

What this means for you, in plain terms: if the mediation works, the risk of a wider war falls, and with it the pressure on fuel prices, shipping and food costs that have already been pushed up by the Hormuz tanker attacks. If it fails, the opposite follows, and the "spoilers" Chaudhry warned about will have won the round. Pakistan sits in the middle of both outcomes, as a neighbour of Iran, a defence partner of Saudi Arabia and a country that cannot afford a new front on its western border.

The careful wording also matters. "Cautiously optimistic" is not a claim of a deal. It is a signal to Tehran, Washington and the Gulf capitals that the channel is alive, while leaving room for it to fail. Readers should treat it that way, as a sign of movement, not as a peace agreement.

Future Developments

Three things to watch next. First, whether the Qatari mediators in Tehran produce any written response from Iran to the draft ideas that were due by the end of this week. Second, whether Washington backs the regional channel in public, something Chaudhry pointedly would not confirm. Third, whether the Hormuz tanker attacks and the Houthi strikes on Saudi sites ease or grow, since each new attack makes the mediation harder to sell in every capital.

Pakistan's own next step is also open. No new troop move to Saudi Arabia has been announced, and Chaudhry tied any such move to a political decision. Any announcement from Islamabad or Riyadh on that front would be a fresh story in its own right.

Sources

• Reuters: Pakistan military 'cautiously optimistic' on Iran-US mediation
• Al Jazeera: Pakistan army 'cautiously optimistic' about US-Iran mediation efforts

Related PakInsight Hub stories: Iran rejects Qatar peace deal ideas as unacceptable, Iran says four tankers hit mines in Strait of Hormuz, Pentagon says Iran war has cost US taxpayers 47.1 billion dollars so far.

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