{"id":125389,"date":"2026-05-06T20:24:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=125389"},"modified":"2026-05-06T20:24:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:24:44","slug":"dar-says-pakistans-focus-is-now-on-making-us-iran-ceasefire-permanent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/","title":{"rendered":"Dar says Pakistan&#8217;s focus is now on making US-Iran ceasefire permanent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)-   Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed hope on Wednesday that the indefinitely extended ceasefire between the United States and Iran could be made permanent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US President Donald Trump has indefinitely&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1993810\">extended<\/a>&nbsp;what was initially a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1989584\/trump-stops-bombing-iran-after-conversations-with-pm-shehbaz-sharif-field-marshal-asim-munir-iran-us-agree-to-two-week-ceasefire\">two-week ceasefire<\/a>&nbsp;between the two countries, brokered with the help of Pakistan\u2019s mediation, but the conflict \u2014 and its widespread economic fallout \u2014 remains unresolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Addressing the second session of the Ulema Council Conference in Islamabad, the foreign minister said that Pakistan\u2019s efforts had been directed towards securing direct negotiations and a ceasefire \u2014 \u201cfirst it happened, then it was extended, then extended a second time, then a third time\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt least the deaths of several hundred people a day \u2014 with the toll going into the thousands \u2014 has stopped,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He called on the council to pray for Pakistan\u2019s efforts, saying that they were now geared towards turning the ceasefire into a \u201cpermanent end to the war\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dar also called on Muslim states to unite in case they had developed any rifts between them, stressing his belief that they would be stronger in their efforts if they worked together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The deputy premier further noted Pakistan\u2019s role in bringing the US and Iran to direct negotiations for the first time in 47 years. He said that Pakistan \u201cplayed its full part\u201d from February 28 until today in its response to the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAfter 47 years, we brought the US and Iran to sit down at the same table,\u201d he added, contrasting it with the indirect negotiations that had taken place previously, facilitated by Oman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He highlighted that Pakistan had engaged with Iran on the issue of their strikes on US bases in other Middle Eastern countries that had heightened tensions in the region, stressing its part in the Muslim Ummah in an effort to halt the intra-regional hostilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US and Israeli forces&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1976377\">launched<\/a>&nbsp;the war against Iran on February 28, after which the Islamic republic closed the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a vital route for oil and gas exports \u2014 while American forces later launched a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1991139\">blockade<\/a>&nbsp;of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Islamabad Talks, which marked the highest engagement between the two sides&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1990761\">since 1979<\/a>, ended without an agreement, but also without a breakdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire agreed on April 8 neared its original deadline, Trump posted on social media that he had decided to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1993810\">extend<\/a>&nbsp;it indefinitely \u201cupon the request of [Chief of Defence Forces] Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, further efforts to secure more face-to-face talks have fallen through, with Trump stating that the two sides could negotiate by phone call if necessary. The Strait of Hormuz and Iranian ports both remain blocked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed hope on Wednesday that the indefinitely extended ceasefire between the United States and Iran could be made permanent. US President Donald Trump has indefinitely&nbsp;extended&nbsp;what was initially a&nbsp;two-week ceasefire&nbsp;between the two countries, brokered with the help of Pakistan\u2019s mediation, but the conflict \u2014 and its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dar says Pakistan&#039;s focus is now on making US-Iran ceasefire permanent - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dar says Pakistan&#039;s focus is now on making US-Iran ceasefire permanent - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed hope on Wednesday that the indefinitely extended ceasefire between the United States and Iran could be made permanent. US President Donald Trump has indefinitely&nbsp;extended&nbsp;what was initially a&nbsp;two-week ceasefire&nbsp;between the two countries, brokered with the help of Pakistan\u2019s mediation, but the conflict \u2014 and its [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T15:24:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-17-4.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/\",\"name\":\"Dar says Pakistan's focus is now on making US-Iran ceasefire permanent - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-17-4.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-06T15:24:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-17-4.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-17-4.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dar says Pakistan&#8217;s focus is now on making US-Iran ceasefire permanent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dar says Pakistan's focus is now on making US-Iran ceasefire permanent - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125389\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dar says Pakistan's focus is now on making US-Iran ceasefire permanent - Nation","og_description":"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed hope on Wednesday that the indefinitely extended ceasefire between the United States and Iran could be made permanent. 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