The US-Iran ceasefire breakthrough came not from the United Nations or traditional European intermediaries, but through intense backchannel parleys by Islamabad, which took center stage as a mediator.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munirreportedly engaged US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to hammer out the tentative truce, although President Donald Trump stepped up to take credit.