Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has engaged in what might be called stern diplomacy, giving Gulf nations a stark choice between pursuing regional peace or continuing to enable foreign military wars from their soil. His statement on X, delivered over a month into the Iran-US conflict, presented the issue as a binary decision for Gulf governments. Pezeshkian argued that true peace and development are available only to those who refuse to host enemy operations.
Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman have become entangled in the war because US military bases on their soil have been used to strike Iran. Tehran has responded with retaliatory strikes inside those countries, creating a rapidly escalating regional crisis. Gulf governments now find themselves at the center of a conflict they did not author but are very much living with.
Pezeshkian confirmed that Iran does not initiate military confrontations and only retaliates when its economic or infrastructure assets are attacked. He told Gulf leaders that their choice to host enemy forces is the defining factor in their own security situation. His call for regional peace is tied directly to a demand that Gulf governments exercise genuine sovereignty over their military relationships.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif shared that Pezeshkian told him trust is a non-negotiable prerequisite for any formal peace negotiations. Pakistan has organized a major multilateral meeting in Islamabad with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey to focus on de-escalation. Iran has commended Pakistan’s constructive and sincere engagement in the peace process.
Pakistan’s Ishaq Dar will lead the ministerial discussions and facilitate meetings with Prime Minister Sharif. Tehran’s embrace of Pakistan’s mediation stands in contrast to its firm warnings to Gulf states. Together, these two tracks — military warning and diplomatic openness — define Iran’s current approach to ending the war on terms it can accept.