Pakistan steps in as Iran mediator while India watches from the wings
Rocket trails are seen in the sky above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks on Wednesday.
Photo: AFP As the Iran war reshapes West Asian geopolitics, Pakistan has unexpectedly emerged as a backchannel mediator between Tehran and Washington, potentially sidelining India’s efforts to assert itself as a credible global diplomatic actor.
India, despite its growing partnerships with the US, Israel and the Gulf states, has been absent from any meaningful conflict-resolution initiative on Iran.
Umer Karim, a political science researcher at the University of Birmingham, said India’s strengthening strategic ties with Israel and efforts to rebuild its US partnership had left it “largely irrelevant and marginalised”. “Its diplomacy has been missing in action for several days after the initiation of hostilities.
Even the sinking of an Iranian ship near Indian territorial waters drew muted and reserved reactions from the Indian side,” Karim said.
Though India is seeking a larger role in global governance, from its G20 presidency to Global South leadership, it is carefully navigating the war’s fallout to protect its interests in the Middle East and beyond.
Any open condemnation of US actions risks derailing its trade rapprochement attempts with Washington, which took a hit when the US imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian purchases of Russian oil last year. “Unease” had characterised India-Iran ties in recent years, Karim said, reflected in New Delhi’s reluctance to fully commit to developing Iran’s Chahbahar port.
He said he found India’s silence on Iranian attacks on Gulf states even more “surprising”. “With the UAE, with which India signed a letter of intent for a strategic partnership, it was widely expected that Delhi would become a critical defence partner and ally of the Emirates, but it didn’t,” Karim said. “All of this will have grave implications for India’s standing and strategic relevance on both shores of the Gulf waterway.” A vehicle drives past the prime minister’s residence building in Islamabad on Wednesday, as Pakistan offers to help mediate talks to end the Iran war.
Photo: Reuters US President Donald Trump on Tuesday shared Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s social media post expressing Islamabad’s willingness to facilitate “meaningful and conclusive” talks to end the conflict.
Pakistan reportedly delivered Trump’s 15-point ceasefire proposal to Tehran, with US Vice-President J.D.
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