Pakistan's mediation advanced to the foreign-ministry level on June 7 when Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran and handed over a written message from Pakistan's leadership addressed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei [1]. The two sides discussed the latest developments in the Iran-U.S. talks, the regional situation, and bilateral matters [1].

The contents of the written message were not disclosed. But the channel itself is the story: a direct written route from Islamabad to the supreme leader bypasses the written-intermediary decision loop that Secretary Rubio described in his June 2 Senate testimony, where he stated that all communications with Iran are conducted in writing and through intermediaries [1]. Pakistan brokered the original April ceasefire and hosted the first round of U.S.-Iran talks [1].

The Associated Press characterized the broader Pakistani effort as aimed at closing the gap on the tentative late-May agreement to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start nuclear talks — a deal awaiting changes President Trump has demanded but not specified publicly [1]. Pakistan's channel now runs parallel to, and potentially around, the U.S.-led track.

-- PRIYA SHARMA, Delhi