Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is traveling to Tehran on Monday for talks with senior Iranian officials, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. It is his third visit to Iran this year as Islamabad seeks to mediate an end to the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the visit would build on Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen regional peace and security. Pakistani officials confirmed the trip but did not disclose its agenda.
Why the visit matters now
Munir’s trip follows two phone calls with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi within four days. Iranian state media said they discussed regional developments and ways to strengthen peace, stability and security in West Asia.
The diplomatic process linked to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has stalled. The 60-day period established by the agreement, signed by Pakistan, Iran and the US on June 17, expired in mid-August without an extension. Iran has said Washington must first lift its naval blockade, end oil sanctions, unfreeze Iranian assets abroad and halt military threats.
Related coverage: What ship traffic reveals about control of the Strait of Hormuz.
A crowded regional agenda
The talks are expected to include the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on August 7. The pact says an attack on one signatory would be treated as an attack on all three.
The conflict involving Yemen’s Houthi fighters is also likely to be discussed. Three Pakistani sailors were killed and several others wounded when Houthi forces struck a Tanzania-flagged commercial vessel in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait on August 11. Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar condemned the attack as a violation of international law.
Munir is expected to meet Iran’s recently appointed senior military leadership, including the new Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief, the new Chief of General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces and the new Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, according to Iranian journalist Reza Afzal Samir.
More context: Trump says no Iran talks are planned amid Hormuz standoff.
What Pakistan can influence
Analysts disagree over how much leverage Islamabad has. Qamar Cheema of the Sanober Institute said Pakistan could offer an off-ramp because both Washington and Tehran see it as a facilitator without a direct stake in the outcome. Javad Heiran-Nia of Tehran’s Persian Gulf Studies Group said Pakistan was also acting to limit risks to its energy imports and remittances if regional instability worsens.
Andreas Krieg of King’s College London said Qatar remained the main political channel between Washington and Tehran, while Munir’s role was more narrowly focused on military-to-military communication with Iran’s security establishment. Retired Pakistani general Zahid Mehmood described Pakistan as carrying Washington’s possible route back to negotiations.
The next test for mediation
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi recently traveled to Tehran to revive the mediation effort but returned without concrete results. Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Albusaidi is scheduled to visit Tehran on Tuesday, adding another regional diplomatic channel.
Also read: Iran warns of possible offensive action as US agreement ends.
Krieg said a meaningful result would be Iranian security-establishment support for a specific arrangement to reduce tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and restraint through Yemen or Iraq, provided Qatar secured reciprocal US movement. Without that, he said, communication could remain open while both sides moved toward another coercive cycle.
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