Stepping off a plane on Wednesday evening, Field Marshal Asim Munir walked straight into the warm embrace of Iran\u2019s foreign minister and chief negotiator, Abbas Araghchi. Dressed in full army fatigues, the powerful chief of Pakistan\u2019s military cut an unusual figure as a beacon for peace. Yet that was just the role he intended to play.<\/p>\n
Munir had rushed to Tehran in what many saw as a last-ditch attempt to revive Pakistan\u2019s efforts to mediate an end to the war between the US and Iran. Four days earlier, the US vice-president, JD Vance, left Islamabad<\/a>, after more than 21 hours of talks between the US and Iran failed to broker a deal.<\/p>\n But even as the US president, Donald Trump, quickly lashed out, imposing a naval blockade on the strait of Hormuz<\/a> that risked escalating the war, he also praised Munir\u2019s \u201cfantastic\u201d efforts in continuing negotiations between the two sides. On Wednesday night, the army chief arrived in Tehran with a new proposal from Washington of a framework for a fresh round of talks in Islamabad next week.<\/p>\n Pakistan has emerged as an unlikely diplomatic broker between Iran and the US, and Munir is widely seen as a key driving force. Pakistan\u2019s army chief<\/a> was one of the few able to get the US and Iranian leadership on the phone, passing along messages as a trusted intermediary to both sides. It is widely acknowledged that the negotiations have been coordinated from Rawalpindi, the seat of the army, rather than Islamabad, the seat of the parliament.<\/p>\n \u201cField Marshal Munir is the driving force \u2013 without him this would not work,\u201d said Maleeha Lodhi, who served as Pakistan\u2019s former ambassador to the UN, US and UK.<\/p>\n \u201cThe foreign ministry is just a junior partner. Countries like Iran<\/a> and the US have this confidence in Asim Munir. Our government ministers are really an adjunct.\u201d<\/p>\n JD Vance talking to Munir after negotiations in Islamabad earlier this month. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n It was Munir\u2019s phone calls<\/a> that led the frantic international efforts last week, which resulted in a last-minute ceasefire agreement after Trump\u2019s threat that Iran\u2019s civilisation would \u201cdie\u201d if they did not agree to a deal. Trump is said to have directly leaned on Munir to use his influence and knowledge of the Iranians to help reach the off-ramp. And when the US and Iranian delegations met in Islamabad on Saturday, Munir was the third party in the room.<\/p>\n This week, Munir travelled to Iran as the critical messenger and negotiator<\/a>, while Pakistan\u2019s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, took a diplomatic trip to Saudi Arabia to shore up regional support for the country\u2019s peacemaking efforts.<\/p>\n Analysts have emphasised that it is not unusual for Pakistan\u2019s army chief \u2013 an unelected, yet overwhelmingly powerful position \u2013 to shape the country\u2019s foreign policy and to be the face of foreign engagements, even when civilian governments are supposedly in charge. US presidents have long preferred dealing with Pakistan\u2019s military leaders rather than their democratically elected ones.<\/p>\n Yet Munir was not always an obvious international statesman, say experts. After his appointment in 2022, his focus was largely on domestic issues, including a crushing of the country\u2019s political opposition and orchestrating an unprecedented concentration of his own power<\/a> within Pakistan.<\/p>\n However, over the past year and a half, he has pushed himself as a global ambassador, cultivating strong relationships in Washington, Riyadh and Tehran. By the end of 2025, he had visited the White House twice, overseen US-Pakistani deals on crypto and mineral mining and signed a defence pact with Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been very good at building relationships with leaders and countries through frequent visits and communication,\u201d said Lodhi. \u201cHe\u2019s not laid-back. He\u2019s not somebody who\u2019s going to wait for a call. As we\u2019ve seen in his diplomatic activism, he\u2019ll pick up the phone himself.\u201d<\/p>\n Crucial to Munir\u2019s current clout as a trusted intermediary was his part in rebuilding US-Pakistani relationships during the second Trump administration, through a combination of strategic wins, lobbying, flattery and deals. He gave Trump an early victory by handing him several high-profile terrorists who were extradited to the US.<\/p>\n