With WhatsApp and Signal, Pakistan delivered Iran-US ceasefire through deft backroom dealmaking
Less than two hours before a US deadline to bomb Iran to smithereens, Pakistan quietly brokered a two-week ceasefire that pulled Tehran along with the broader region from the brink of a potential apocalypse.
Announced just 90 minutes before President Donald Trump’s 8pm Washington deadline on April 7, the agreement halted US/Israeli attacks, set the stage for the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, and paved the way for face-to-face talks in Islamabad between Washington and Tehran on April 10.
What made the breakthrough – hailed by leaders from around the world – possible was not multilateral summits or public statements. Rather, it was old-fashioned shuttle diplomacy by Pakistan, conducted through “encrypted messaging apps”.
Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of defence forces, spearheaded the effort, according to Baqir Sajjad Syed, an Islamabad-based foreign affairs commentator with deep diplomatic connections.
“(Munir) had direct calls with US and Iranian interlocutors and also steered the final understanding,” he tells TRT World.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif provided the political cover, while Ishaq Dar, who holds the dual offices of deputy prime minister and foreign minister, coordinated regional backing from countries such as Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
“On some occasions, (Iranian) President Pezeshkian also engaged with Prime Minister Sharif,” he says.
US President Trump has developed unusually warm relations with Pakistan in his second stint at the White House. He has publicly praised both Munir and Sharif on multiple occasions, while taking credit for ending the four-day war with India, which brought the two South Asian countries head-to-head in the world’s biggest aerial battle of the last 80 years.
From the Iranian side, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi served as the primary point of contact for Pakistani intermediaries, Syed says.
The top Iranian diplomat would, in turn, coordinate with the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the top body responsible for the country’s defence matters, including nuclear policy.
On the US side, Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff was the key negotiator, even though Trump and Vice President JD Vance also “spoke directly with Munir” at critical junctures.
Embassies in Islamabad were kept at arm’s length for most exchanges, though Pakistani officials occasionally called diplomats to the military’s General Headquarters to convey urgent messages, Syed says.
The conversations, both voice and text, took place rapidly through encrypted apps: WhatsApp with the Iranians and Signal with the Americans.
“This format allowed rapid, deniable shuttling without loss of time or public exposure,” Syed says.
There were no formal rounds of talks to count. “It was a classic backchannel style with continuous shuttling rather than formal sessions,” he says.
The negotiation process escalated from exploratory contacts in March to a decisive push on April 6 and 7, coinciding with Trump’s extended deadline for attacking Iranian energy infrastructure.
Pakistan proposed the two-week framework, which serves as a “pragmatic compromise to buy enough time” for de-escalation and the first round of talks scheduled for April 10, “without appearing as an open-ended concession”.
Neither side pushed for a shorter one-week pause, which would have been too tight for substantive negotiations, nor for three weeks or more, Syed says.
Trump accepted the proposed two-week duration, so did Iran.
Painstaking diplomacy at work
Praising Pakistan’s role in the ceasefire, former Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni demanded the Nobel Peace Prize for Pakistan.
Leaders from Türkiye, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand also acknowledged Pakistan’s contribution to the peace process.
India is probably the only country that appeared to be uncomfortable with Pakistan’s emergence as a regional peacebroker.