Pakistan confirmed Thursday that negotiations between the United States and Iran are ongoing, offering the first official acknowledgment of diplomatic back channels as a Qatari gas vessel became the first commercial ship to cross the Strait of Hormuz since Tehran imposed a blockade three weeks ago.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman, Tahir Andrabi, told reporters that talks were under way between the two sides, particularly concerning the Strait of Hormuz. He said Islamabad was encouraging both parties to fully respect their commitments to hold technical discussions under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, a framework signed in mid-June that was supposed to open the door to peace talks.
The announcement came on a day of heavy fighting. The United States completed what it called a heavy series of bombings on Iran early Thursday, striking dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets in the southwestern provinces of Khuzestan and Hormozgan, near the Strait, including command centers, missile and drone installations, and coastal defense sites.
Three Iranian civilians were killed on Qeshm Island, including a couple and their two-year-old child. Two more children, aged 7 and 9, were wounded. Iran’s Tasnim agency also reported three Revolutionary Guard soldiers killed in the northwestern province of Zanjan, far from the strikes.
The US military said it was responding to an Iranian attempt Tuesday to launch a surprise ballistic missile attack on American forces in the Middle East, which it said was intercepted in full.
Yet amid the bombing and the rhetoric, with Trump saying Wednesday that the US would hit them very hard because it was their turn, the Qatari tanker’s passage through the Strait suggested a parallel track. Iran blocked commercial traffic through the waterway on July 7 after accusing the US of violating the Islamabad memorandum. The Qatari vessel crossed with Tehran’s authorization and is heading toward international waters.
The picture that emerges is contradictory but not uncommon for this conflict: heavy American airstrikes on Iranian soil, Iranian civilians dead, and diplomatic channels humming in the background. Pakistan has positioned itself as an intermediary, maintaining ties with both Washington and Tehran.
Whether the talks produce anything concrete remains an open question. The Islamabad memorandum has been all but dead since the blockade began. But the fact that both sides are still talking, even while bombing each other, suggests neither believes a military solution is the only way out.