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  "path": "/news/1991371/after-us-iran-talks-in-islamabad-pm-shehbaz-says-full-efforts-ongoing-to-resolve-conflict",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-13T14:43:03.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.dawn.com",
  "tags": [
    "Pakistan",
    "broker a two-week ceasefire",
    "Iran-US dialogue",
    "held in multiple formats",
    "expletive-laden post",
    "deadline for Iran",
    "prompting backlash",
    "publicly requested"
  ],
  "textContent": "Following talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad over the weekend, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said that “full efforts” were ongoing to resolve the conflict.\n\n“Today, the ceasefire still stands. As I am talking to you, matters that are not resolved, full efforts are underway to resolve them,” he said in a televised address to the federal cabinet.\n\nIn his first remarks on the matter after the negotiations concluded, the premier hailed talks between the two countries in Islamabad as a “historic moment”.\n\nHe said the Islamabad Talks gave Pakistan a chance to “turn looming clouds of war into lasting peace”.\n\nPM Shehbaz added that “if you look through history — take the Oslo Agreement, the Geneva Accord, the Good Friday Agreement … it took months and sometimes years to end hostilities and establish peace”.\n\nComing to the Islamabad Talks, he said that the Iranian and American delegations had negotiated “continuously for 21 hours”.\n\nThe dialogue, he said, was not held indirectly. “It was the first time that the two delegations sat face-to-face. I am a witness to it.”\n\nHe said Pakistan’s leadership had worked hard day and night to bring the two sides to the table. “And it is a result of Pakistan’s sincere efforts that the ceasefire still holds,” he said, adding that full efforts were being made to resolve unresolved matters.\n\n“That is why I believe that the Islamabad peace talks were a historic event,” he said, further mentioning that he had received a call from his Japanese counterpart on Monday. “She congratulated me on Pakistan playing an important role” in efforts for de-escalation between the US and Iran, the PM said.\n\nMoreover, he said he had also received phone calls from European leaders, who commended Pakistan’s efforts.\n\nPM Shehbaz particularly lauded Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, as well as their teams, for their contributions to de-escalation.\n\nHe said it was because of the CDF and his team’s “wisdom” that Pakistan was able to broker a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran.\n\nThe premier said he was responsible for ensuring that “national secrets” were not revealed. “So, those secrets are buried in my heart. But, I can tell you this much that … the Field Marshal and his team spent sleepless nights. And there were moments when matters were close to falling apart, but then they were resolved,” he detailed.\n\nPM Shehbaz said that after the talks, the US and Iranian delegations had issued separate statements, but they had commonalities.\n\nBoth sides expressed gratitude to Pakistan for hosting the talks and lauded Pakistan’s political and military leadership “for playing a brotherly role, he said.\n\nThe premier said God had given Pakistan the opportunity to mediate between the two sides that “were not ready even to see each other for 47 years”.\n\nHe said he was thankful to the US and Iranian presidents, who accepted Pakistan’s invitation for the talks and agreed on a two-week ceasefire. He termed the talks a “moment of pride for 240 million Pakistanis”.\n\nPM Shehbaz’s briefing came a day after the inaugural round of direct Iran-US dialogue, mediated by Pakistan, concluded after nearly 21 hours of talks without a breakthrough. However, officials indicated that the process had not collapsed and could continue.\n\nThe talks, the highest-level face-to-face engagement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, were held in multiple formats, including expert-level discussions, under the facilitation of Dar and CDF Munir.\n\nThey were held more than a month after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, setting off a conflict that gave rise to a global fuel crisis.\n\nThe threats of the war prolonging and intensifying had escalated on April 5, when Trump, after making an expletive-laden post, issued an unusually precise deadline for Iran to agree to a ceasefire deal with Washington and allow traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a key maritime corridor through which 20pc of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the Middle East war began.\n\n“Tuesday (April 7), 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time,” he wrote, coupled with the warning of bombing Iran’s power plants and bridges on that day, increasing pressure to prevent a worsening situation.\n\nOn the day of his deadline, Trump doubled down on his threats against Iran, alarming the world.\n\n“A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back,” he wrote, prompting backlash from even within his country.\n\nWith hours left for the deadline to end, PM Shehbaz publicly requested Trump to “extend the deadline for two weeks”, noting that diplomatic efforts for a peaceful settlement of the ongoing war were “progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully”.\n\nHe also requested Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz for a corresponding period of two weeks.\n\nShortly thereafter, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to say that he had spoken with PM Shehbaz and CDF Munir.\n\n“Subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump announced.\n\nSubsequently, Iran’s FM Araghchi shared a statement on behalf of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council declaring that if attacks against the country were halted, it would cease its defensive operations.\n\nEventually, talks between the two sides were held in Islamabad. While no breakthrough could be achieved, it was, however, significant that neither side walked away, and officials indicated that the process could continue.",
  "title": "After US-Iran talks in Islamabad, PM Shehbaz says ‘full efforts’ ongoing to resolve conflict"
}