Pakistan, Egypt, Turkiye engaged in ‘back-channel diplomacy’ for US-Iran de-escalation: official source

The official said that through “active back-channel diplomacy”, involving US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt were engaged in “quiet communication” to restore peace.

The source said a “strategic synergy” between Ankara, Cairo and Islamabad had established a “vital diplomatic conduit, demonstrating that regional cooperation is the most effective antidote to escalation”.

This “mediation effort” was more than just crisis management, the source said, adding that there were reports of tangible progress toward resolving outstanding issues and finding a sustainable end to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The development has emerged after US President Donald Trump said he had given orders to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, hours ahead of a deadline that threatened further escalation in the conflict, and claimed Washington and Tehran had held “very good and constructive” talks over the past two days.

While Iran has denied holding any talks with the US in the past 24 days, its foreign ministry has admitted receiving messages from “friendly countries” that it said indicated requests for talks by the US.

The ministry maintained that it had not responded to the messages, IRNA news agency reported.

For their part, the official said that Pakistan’s efforts are a reaffirmation of its role as a “net regional stabiliser” and Islamabad leveraging its “unique diplomatic position” to shift the focus from confrontation toward meaningful dialogue.

The source also referred to reports of progress made in mediatory efforts, adding that diplomatic efforts by Turkiye, Egypt and Pakistan offered the world a “roadmap for steering away from conflict and toward a safer future”.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has now entered its fourth week. It began with the US and Israel launching attacks on Iran, triggering a conflict that has expanded to the rest of the Middle East and the impact of which is being felt elsewhere, too, amid a global fuel crunch.

On the first day of attacks on Iran, the strikes also resulted in the assassination of then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

During the war, Gulf countries have also come under attack, and while Tehran accepts responsibility for some of the retaliatory attacks targeting US bases and assets in those countries, it denies having a role in others.