PM Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir landed in Switzerland on June 21 to co-mediate the first quadrilateral US-Iran session since the Islamabad Memorandum, as Islamabad pledged to keep facilitating implementation amid fresh tensions over Hormuz and Lebanon.
Pakistan moved its mediation of the US-Iran detente into a decisive new phase on Sunday, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir arriving in Switzerland to take part in the first quadrilateral negotiation since Washington and Tehran signed the Islamabad Memorandum. The talks opened at the Bürgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne, where a US-Iran-Pakistan-Qatar session ran for about 80 minutes before participants broke for internal consultations, according to Al Jazeera. The format and venue were confirmed independently by Dawn and PBS NewsHour.
Speaking alongside US Vice President JD Vance and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the opening, Sharif struck a hopeful but cautious note, saying he hoped the discussions would end with a “wonderful paper in our hands that will promote peace, progress and prosperity around the globe,” as quoted by Al Jazeera. Iran’s delegation did not speak during the opening remarks and did not appear in photographs alongside Vance, which both Al Jazeera and PBS read as a sign of how tense the session remained.
Sharif credited the military leadership for the breakthrough, expressing satisfaction that joint efforts had “culminated in the meet in Bürgenstock” and thanking Munir for his “consistent efforts, perseverance and patience during the mediation process,” in remarks reported by Dawn. In the same account, Dawn quoted the prime minister calling US President Donald Trump “a man of peace” and saying he was optimistic about a “renewed friendship” with Washington.
On Pakistan’s next-step commitments, the Foreign Office said Islamabad “will continue to facilitate the process in its role as mediator, with a view to advancing the understandings reached under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding,” according to The Express Tribune, which also reported that Switzerland’s foreign ministry acknowledged Pakistan as a mediator providing “a discreet and reliable setting” for the negotiations. Dawn separately reported the Foreign Office affirmation that “Pakistan will continue to support and advance the implementation of the understandings reached between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the US.”
Vance set an upbeat tone for the American side, telling reporters that “great progress” had been made and asking “how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf?” The quotes were reported consistently by Al Jazeera and PBS.
The optimism was undercut almost immediately. Minutes after Vance spoke, Trump threatened renewed strikes over Hezbollah, posting that “if they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” per PBS, which also quoted Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei warning that “the implementation of any document is more important than its signing.” For Pakistan, the Bürgenstock round is the first real test of whether the mediation that produced the Islamabad Memorandum can survive the implementation phase, with Sharif and Munir now at the centre of a process that remains fragile.
