FM Dar on one-day China visit as talk grows around Pakistan’s role in Iran–US peace

Deputy Prime Minister (PM) and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday left for a one-day visit to China, a trip taking place as discussions circulate around Pakistan’s potential role in facilitating peace between Iran and the United States (US).

The Foreign Office said Dar is visiting Beijing at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for “in-depth discussions on regional developments”, adding that both sides will review bilateral ties and broader regional and global issues under their “all-weather strategic cooperative partnership”.

The timing of the visit has drawn attention amid emerging commentary suggesting that Islamabad could be part of broader diplomatic efforts linked to a possible Iran–US dialogue framework.

Vali Nasr, an Iranian-American academic and political scientist, wrote on X that Iran has asked for guarantees in any deal with US.

“Word is that Pakistan Foreign Minister is going to Beijing to get a guarantor for the potential deal. Likely that is Iran’s condition for talks with US. And FM would not be going to China without having floated the idea with both Washington and Beijing. No guarantees of China biting but Beijing is now the frontline in the diplomatic effort,” he said.

In response, journalist Azaz Syed also posted on X that, “Your assessment matches the information I’m receiving from Islamabad. Soon after the quadrilateral meeting ended, Pakistani President @AAliZardari visited the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad without any public announcement.”

“I later heard similar chatter and discussed it on my show Talk Shock, uploaded on YouTube two hours before your tweet. We’re clearly on the same page, even while working from different parts of the world. Respect for your contributions,” he wrote.

Dar is expected to remain in China for only a few hours and is likely to continue consultations linked to recent high-level engagements, including his telephone conversation with Wang Yi last week.

The visit follows Pakistan’s recent diplomatic outreach, including a four-country meeting hosted in Islamabad with Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Egypt, where foreign ministers called for de-escalation and supported efforts to create conditions for structured negotiations between Washington DC and Tehran.