Top Pakistan mediator heads to Iran in hint at US deal progress

Patrick Sykes and Eric Martin, Bloomberg News on May 22, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

WASHINGTON — Pakistan said its army chief, the favored interlocutor between Washington and Tehran, is headed to the Iranian capital, signaling progress has been made in talks to end the war.

Field Marshal Asim Munir is making an official visit to Tehran for discussions including U.S.-Iran talks and peace in the region, a Pakistani security official familiar with the matter said in a message to reporters, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Pakistan has been shuttling between the two sides in recent days, in a push to broker a compromise to advance the ceasefire agreed on April 8. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a new round of talks with Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday, semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported earlier.

Confirmation of the trip, which had been expected to take place on Thursday, comes after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was “slight progress” in negotiations with Iran.

“I don’t want to exaggerate it, but there’s been a little bit of movement, and that’s good,” Rubio said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Sweden, on Friday.

Oil prices pared gains and were briefly negative, on expectations around a peace deal that would normalize access to Persian Gulf exports. Brent crude trades just over $103 a barrel, up 0.6%. The S&P 500 is on track for an eighth consecutive week of gains.

Hopes of a breakthrough were boosted by a report that a Qatari negotiating team arrived in Tehran on Friday in coordination with the U.S. to secure a deal with Iran, according to Reuters, which cited a person with knowledge of the matter it did not identify.

Tehran is considering the latest proposal submitted by the U.S. through Pakistan, but has given no indication yet of when it will formally respond. The status of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial conduit for global energy supplies, and Iran’s nuclear program have been major sticking points.

Iran’s ambassador to France, Mohammad Amin-Nejad, told Bloomberg on Wednesday his country is discussing with Oman some form of a permanent toll system in the strait, something the U.S. has said is unacceptable.

Rubio said it would set a precedent for other areas of the world and that no country should accept the imposition of tolls in Hormuz. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he opposed the idea.

“We want it open, we want it free, we don’t want tolls,” he told reporters at the White House. “It’s an international waterway. They are not charging tolls right now.”

Outside of Hormuz, the U.S. has repeatedly demanded Tehran hand over its enriched uranium and commit to ending enrichment for at least a decade. Iranian leaders have publicly rejected that, and the country’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday “we will never back down” in talks.

Here’s more related to the Iran war:

—Japan, one of Asia’s largest importers of energy from the Middle East, flagged the impending arrival of its first oil shipment from the Persian Gulf since the war began.

—Iran claimed 35 ships crossed Hormuz in the past day after obtaining permission, ISNA reports citing an IRGC statement.

—Iran has destroyed more than two dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones operated by U.S. forces since the war began, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. That represents 20% of the Pentagon’s prewar inventory for the hard-to-replace unmanned system.

—House Republican leaders in the U.S. abruptly canceled a vote on the Iran war as GOP absences threatened an embarrassing defeat for Trump.

—Iraq formed a high-level committee to investigate drone attacks on the UAE and Saudi Arabia, including one that caused a fire outside the Barakah nuclear power plant, west of Abu Dhabi.

--------

—With assistance from Jeff Mason and Tooba Khan.