‘Talks were almost dead’: Pakistan’s last-ditch effort to secure Iran war truce

Mediation efforts to halt the war in Iran were hours from collapse when Pakistan mounted an overnight diplomatic push to secure a temporary ceasefire and bring Washington and Tehran into direct negotiations, four Pakistani sources said.

The effort nearly unraveled after an Iranian strike on a Saudi petrochemical facility triggered fury in Riyadh and threatened to derail weeks of back-channel diplomacy, the sources — with direct knowledge of the talks — said.

With a deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump looming, Pakistani officials mounted a last-ditch attempt to pass messages between Tehran and Washington, after Trump warned that continued fighting ​that night could wipe out “a whole civilization.”