Pakistan has proposed a two-stage plan to end the US-Israel war on Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with both sides now mulling the framework, a source has told the Reuters news agency.
Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday acknowledged diplomatic efforts by Pakistan, which has shared a plan with Iran and the United States to end hostilities, according to Reuters.
“All elements need to be agreed today,” the source said, adding the initial understanding would be structured as a memorandum of understanding finalised electronically through Pakistan, the sole communication channel in the talks.
Axios first reported on Sunday that Pakistan, along with other regional mediators, was engaged in intense diplomatic efforts to broker a potential 45-day ceasefire between Iran and the United States that could lead to a permanent end to the war.
The source told Reuters that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Field Marshal Asim Munir, has been in contact “all night long” with US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Under the proposal, a ceasefire would take effect immediately, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with 15-20 days to finalise a broader settlement.
The deal, tentatively dubbed the “Islamabad Accord,” would include a regional framework for the strait, with final in-person talks in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran had received Pakistan’s proposal for an immediate ceasefire and was reviewing it, adding that Tehran does not accept being pressured to accept deadlines and make a decision.
Iran won’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a “temporary ceasefire”, the official said, adding that Tehran views Washington as lacking the readiness for a permanent ceasefire.
The US has not yet responded to Pakistan’s plan.
“Pakistan officials tell me that Islamabad is involved in ‘frantic diplomacy’, as they put it,” said Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid.
“The problem they’re facing, as one official put it, is essentially that it’s a schoolboy brawl that they are dealing with. It is egos that they have to manage, and it is also a sea of distrust over which they have to build bridges.”
One source told Javaid that Pakistan is speaking to Iran’s clergy, diplomats, and military commanders, but the level of distrust is still high.
“You heard the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman mention that they have come under attack multiple times by the US and Israel. And then, if there is some sort of rapprochement, if there is some sort of agreement, what are the guarantees that their leaders are not going to be targeted?” said Javaid.
Baghaei, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said on Monday that Tehran would never accept a 15-point plan put forward by the US last month. He stated that Tehran had finalised its demands amid recent proposals to end the war, but would reveal them only when appropriate.
He stressed that Iran would not bow to pressure, the IRNA news agency reported.
Baghaei underlined that Iran has its own framework.
“Based on our own interests, based on our own considerations, we codified the set of demands that we had and have,” he said.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman also rejected the idea that engaging with mediators signals weakness.
Iranian officials have previously told Reuters that Tehran was seeking a permanent ceasefire with guarantees they will not be attacked again by the US and Israel. They have said Iran has received messages from mediators including Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt.
The final agreement is expected to include Iranian commitments not to pursue nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets, the source said.
Separately, Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi has declined to confirm or deny reports suggesting that Islamabad proposed a framework to end the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran.
“There have been multiple reports regarding a 45-day ceasefire proposal or a 15-point plan,” Andrabi told Al Jazeera.
He added, “We do not comment on individual, specific reports. Our position is that the peace process is ongoing.”
The latest diplomatic push comes amid escalating hostilities that have raised concerns over disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global oil supplies.
Meanwhile, Israel struck a key petrochemical plant in the massive South Pars natural gas field and killed two paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commanders.
The gas field attack aimed at eliminating a major source of revenue for Iran, Israel said. The field is critical to electricity production, but the strike appeared to be separate from Trump´s threats to target power plants and bridges if Tehran doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic by Monday night Washington time.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz called the plant Iran’s largest petrochemical facility. The gas field shared with Qatar is the world´s largest. Iranian state media blamed the US and Israel for the attack.
Israel´s military later said it struck three Tehran airports overnight – Bahram, Mehrabad and Azmayesh – hitting dozens of helicopters and aircraft it said belonged to the Iranian Air Force.
A Tehran resident said “constantly there is the sound of bombs, air defenses, drones,” speaking on condition of anonymity for her safety. At least one recent attack hit near her home, waking her, she said.
Separately, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia activated air defenses to intercept Iranian missiles and drones. Tehran has kept up pressure on Gulf neighbors, which has included strikes against infrastructure like oil fields. In Israel, Iranian missiles hit the northern city of Haifa, where four people from one family were found dead in the rubble of a residential building.
Iran´s attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world´s oil is shipped in peacetime, have sent global energy prices soaring.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose to $109 in early Monday spot trading, about 50% higher than when the war started, then wavered. US stocks were mostly holding steady.
Former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayatir urged Arab countries to discourage Trump from striking power plants, warning on social media that the entire region would go “dark” if that happens.
A strike near Eslamshar, southwest of Tehran, killed at least 15 people, authorities said. Five were killed in a residential area in Qom, and six were killed in strikes on other cities, the state-run IRAN daily newspaper reported. Three people were killed at a home in Tehran, state television reported.
In Lebanon, where Israel has launched air attacks and a ground invasion that it says target the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia, an airstrike hit an apartment in Ain Saadeh, a predominately Christian town east of Beirut. It killed an official in the Lebanese Forces, a Christian political party strongly opposed to Hezbollah, his wife and another woman.
“We had always felt safe here,” family friend Nadine Naameh said.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 US service members have been killed.