WASHINGTON (The Thursday Times) — President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he gave Iran “a chance” at the request of “somebody that we greatly respect from Pakistan,” adding that “the Field Marshal and the Prime Minister of Pakistan have been great” and that they “asked us to pause the war for a little while.” The statement is Trump’s most direct and personal acknowledgement yet of Pakistan’s role in the US-Iran negotiations, crediting a specific Pakistani request as the reason he suspended military operations against Iran.
The Thursday Times has covered Pakistan’s mediation role throughout. Read our full analysis of Field Marshal Munir’s central role here.
“I gave Iran a chance at the request of somebody that we greatly respect from Pakistan. The Field Marshal and the Prime Minister of Pakistan have been great. They asked us to pause the war for a little while, and we did that.” President Donald Trump · 27 May 2026
What Trump said and why it matters
Trump’s statement goes beyond diplomatic language. He did not say Pakistan played a helpful role or that the US appreciated its mediation efforts. He said he gave Iran a chance because Pakistan asked him to. That framing places Pakistan not as a facilitator but as the direct reason the war was paused. It is a statement of personal trust in Pakistan’s leadership, specifically in Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, at the highest level. https://twitter.com/thursday_times/status/2059683778562236440
This is consistent with what Trump has said previously. On 8 April 2026, when announcing the original two-week ceasefire, Trump wrote: “Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.” On 12 May, when Senator Lindsey Graham questioned Pakistan’s role, Trump told reporters: “They’re great. I think the Pakistanis have been great. The Field Marshal and the Prime Minister of Pakistan have been absolutely great.” The White House separately issued a formal statement of gratitude, saying Pakistan’s leaders “have been helpful mediators, and the United States is grateful for Pakistan’s efforts to bring an end to the conflict.”
Where the deal stands
Trump’s warm words about Pakistan came alongside a more cautious assessment of the negotiations themselves. He noted that Iran’s leadership is divided, describing “two or three groups, maybe four” within the Iranian leadership, and said he was not sure if a deal would ever be reached given the “huge differences” between the two sides. Negotiations are now being conducted by phone rather than through in-person visits, he said, while acknowledging that “some progress” has been made.
That assessment stands in some tension with the optimism of earlier this week, when Trump announced on Saturday that a deal was “largely negotiated” and Iran’s Foreign Ministry said understandings had been reached on “most issues.” The divergence reflects the complexity of the final stages of any negotiation, where the broad framework may be agreed while specific details remain contested. Pakistan’s role in bridging those final gaps remains active.
Pakistan’s role in numbers
Pakistan brokered the original ceasefire on 8 April 2026. It hosted direct US-Iran talks in Islamabad. Field Marshal Munir flew to Tehran on 22 May for overnight negotiations. He then flew to Beijing alongside PM Shehbaz Sharif, where Xi Jinping praised Pakistan’s “constructive role” and China formally acknowledged Pakistan’s mediation in joint statement 129/2026. Iran’s Foreign Ministry publicly thanked Pakistan by name on 25 May. And now the President of the United States has said he paused a war because Pakistan asked him to.
