Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi concluded a whirlwind second visit to Pakistan on Sunday after a day‑long stop in Oman, completing the second leg of a three‑nation tour aimed at securing a permanent end to the US‑Israeli war on the Islamic Republic. Araghchi arrived at the Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi on a Pakistani military jet, reportedly a Gulfstream G600 owned by the Pakistan Army. Earlier in Oman, he met Sultan Haitham bin Tariq to discuss security in the Strait of Hormuz and the broader diplomatic push, telling Omani officials that Washington’s military presence in the Middle East was “fuelling insecurity and division” and that the region needed a security framework “free of outside interference”. From Muscat he returned to Islamabad for further consultations, then boarded a flight to Moscow for talks on Monday that are expected to include a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
The flurry of movement came just as US President Donald Trump cancelled a planned trip to Islamabad by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son‑in‑law Jared Kushner, telling Fox News that there was no point “making 18‑hour flights to sit around talking about nothing”. The cancellation, delivered as Araghchi departed for Russia, was the second high‑profile diplomatic snub in as many weeks. Trump claimed that “nobody knows who is in charge” in Tehran and that Washington held “all the cards”.
During his first Islamabad visit on Friday, Araghchi handed over what he called a “workable framework” to permanently end the war, telling Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir that Tehran’s position was now clearly on the table. “We shared Iran’s position concerning a workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran,” he wrote on X, adding pointedly: “Have yet to see if the US is truly serious about diplomacy”.
Sources told News18 that the amended framework covers four key areas: control of the Strait of Hormuz, the release of frozen Iranian assets, a mechanism to handle the nuclear enrichment issue, and a timeline for lifting the US blockade. Trump himself, speaking to reporters after cancelling the envoy trip, conceded that Tehran had submitted a “new paper that was much better” than before, though he insisted it was still “not enough”.
The core sticking point remains the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one‑fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas once passed daily. Since the war began on 28 February, Iran has effectively closed the waterway, permitting only limited transit under conditions it controls, while the US has responded with a naval blockade of Iranian ports. The IRGC Navy has repeatedly warned that the strait is a “red line” and that military vessels approaching it would be treated as a ceasefire violation. On the diplomatic front, Tehran has offered a way out: a regional security arrangement that gives Iran and neighbouring Oman, which shares the strait’s southern shore a lead role in managing traffic, under a legal framework.
Iran’s proposal also implicitly addresses the nuclear impasse. Tehran has made clear that its uranium enrichment programme, conducted under IAEA safeguards, is a non‑negotiable sovereign right. Washington’s demand for a 20‑year moratorium on enrichment and the removal of all enriched material from the country has been dismissed as a non‑starter. Yet Iranian officials have indicated that a verifiable, permanent commitment not to pursue nuclear weapons, one that does not require dismantling the country’s peaceful programme could be part of a final agreement. In March, Araghchi revealed that Iran had offered to formally seal its refusal to develop nuclear arms, but that US negotiators “didn’t grasp the technical details”.
Araghchi’s next stop, Moscow is no detour. Russia has been a consistent supporter of Iran, and close coordination between the two capitals has been a hallmark of the war. The Russian foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday that Araghchi would hold talks on “the latest status of the negotiations, the ceasefire and surrounding developments”, with Iranian ambassador Kazem Jalali adding that the foreign minister would meet President Putin in St Petersburg on Monday.
The message is not lost on Washington. Trump may have called off his envoys’ trip, but Iran is still consulting with Pakistan, with Oman, with Russia and, by extension, with every country that has a stake in Gulf stability. The diplomatic track remains alive, but it is now running through channels that Washington does not control. Whether the White House chooses to re‑engage or continues to insist it holds “all the cards” remains to be seen.