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Iran Conflict 2026
9JUN

Munir returns to Tehran two days on

3 min read
10:36UTC

Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir returned to Tehran on Saturday, two days after cancelling the trip, calling the talks 'highly productive' toward terminating the war.

ConflictDeveloping
Key takeaway

Munir's two-day cancel-and-return signals Islamabad now reads the deal as moving fast.

Pakistan's Army chief Asim Munir made his second trip to Tehran on Saturday 23 May, two days after cancelling the first⁠1. The visit was described as "highly productive", with "encouraging progress" toward a final understanding. Munir had pulled out of the 21 May trip over three sticking points: the uranium stockpile, the nuclear sequencing gap, and Iranian Hormuz tolls. His return just two days later is the clearest measure of how fast Islamabad now reads the deal as moving.

Two Pakistani officials told Al Jazeera the MOU is "fairly comprehensive to terminate the war", covering a gradual Hormuz reopening, the lifting of the US blockade and the release of frozen Iranian funds⁠2. Pakistan has functioned as the war's primary back-channel for months; it confirmed it was the active mediator last week. The cancel-then-return cycle marks a sharp acceleration: from early March, it took Islamabad six weeks to extract a single nuclear-monitoring concession.

The carrier matters as much as the message. Iran's deal architecture runs through the IRGC and the Supreme Leader's office, not the civilian Foreign Ministry, so a military principal can engage the people who actually decide. Sending the Army chief rather than the foreign minister preserves the general-officer channel that has carried the war's only concrete nuclear-monitoring movement, a channel no diplomatic visit has been able to replace.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Pakistan's Army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, flew to Tehran on Saturday 23 May. This was actually his second attempt that week: he had cancelled a planned trip on Thursday 21 May because three major issues were still blocking an agreement (Iran's uranium stockpile, how to sequence nuclear talks, and Hormuz tolls). Munir returned two days later and described the meeting as 'highly productive' with 'encouraging progress'. Pakistan has been acting as the go-between for the United States and Iran throughout this conflict. Neither side talks directly to the other, so Pakistan's Army chief carries messages back and forth. Munir specifically carries the security and nuclear monitoring parts of the discussion because he has credibility with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's powerful military force, in a way a civilian diplomat would not. Two Pakistani officials told Al Jazeera the draft agreement is 'fairly comprehensive to terminate the war'.

First Reported In

Update #106 · Trump says deal; OFAC says nothing

Al Jazeera· 24 May 2026
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Different Perspectives
Wang Yi
Wang Yi
China's foreign minister and Djibouti's issued a joint communique on 21 October saying the war should not reach the Horn of Africa and stressing free navigation through Bab al-Mandeb. The text names neither Iran nor the Houthis, and Djibouti hosts China's only overseas military base, opposite the Yemeni coast.
Ministry of External Affairs
Ministry of External Affairs
India's foreign ministry called the attacks on Saudi civilian and energy sites "unacceptable" on 22 October and said they must stop at once. An Indian died at Dammam, Indians were injured there and at Shaybah, and about 4,000 Umrah pilgrims remain stranded by one MP's count.
Iraq
Iraq
Iraq closed the al-Sheeb crossing with Iran to travellers and trucks from 21 October and said other crossings would close gradually. Unlike September's closure, which ended on a staged timetable, this one has none, and Iran's interior ministry said it received no notice.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Egypt's president said on 21 October that Cairo's support would "defend Saudi territory, and does not include an attack on Yemen". Araghchi warned that Egyptian involvement would further complicate the situation, and Cairo's limit matches the one Ankara set on 8 October against attacking another state's soil.
UK Ministry of Defence
UK Ministry of Defence
The MoD said on 20 October that RAF Typhoons over Saudi Arabia will not strike the Houthis, but extended tanker support to Saudi operations including against Houthi targets in Yemen. The tanker line sets no limit on strikes, so British aircraft may now refuel Saudi jets on bombing runs.
Turkey
Turkey
Ankara sent the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement to parliament around 20 October, and its published text treats an attack on one party as an attack on all. Article 16 brings it into force only on the last ratification, so the 5 October invocation in Riyadh could not yet bind Turkey.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.