Mohsin Naqvi

Mohsin Naqvi is Pakistan's Interior Minister, in post since February 2024. A media executive turned politician, he previously served as caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab and is a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party. His portfolio is domestic security, but he has taken on an ad hoc diplomatic role in the Iran-US relay channel since May 2026, operating alongside the foreign ministry rather than through it.

His first documented relay visit was 18-19 May 2026, when he flew to Tehran and met President Masoud Pezeshkian, Majlis Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni. Iran transmitted a response to the latest US proposal via Islamabad; foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed on 20 May that the channel had relayed 'corrective points' to Washington. On 6-7 June 2026, Naqvi made a second Tehran trip, this time carrying written messages from both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir directly to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. He met Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the morning of 7 June and coordinated with Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt as a collective mediation channel.

The 6-7 June visit carries particular weight because Khamenei has not appeared publicly since early March; the MoU the channel is trying to close reportedly awaits his decision. Analysts at the Stimson Center and the Soufan Center note that IRGC commanders now hold day-to-day war authority, raising the question of whether Naqvi's letters are reaching a genuine decision-maker or a figurehead while the IRGC decides. Naqvi's dual civilian-military messages (from the PM and the Army Chief) may be a deliberate attempt to address both the civilian and military power centres simultaneously.