ISLAMABAD (AP) — As the U.S. and Iran exchanged escalating strikes on June 11, a plane carrying Qatari mediators was stranded on the tarmac in Tehran.
They had been engaged in intensive talks through the night, attempting to halt what appeared to be a spiral back into all-out war, a diplomat briefed on the talks said.
The scene on the runway encapsulated the tumultuous diplomatic process, led by Pakistan and Qatar, that led to last week's deal to end a war that destabilized the Middle East and damaged the world economy.
It was one of several moments in which social media threats or actual hostilities threatened to reignite the war. Negotiations on implementing the deal face similar challenges, including violence in Lebanon and threats over the Strait of Hormuz.
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This account of the behind-the-scenes diplomacy leading to the interim deal is based on Associated Press interviews with three Pakistani officials, two regional officials and the diplomat. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive closed-door talks.
In response to a request for comment on its role, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred the AP to previous public statements and said Pakistan will continue mediating. The White House declined to comment. Representatives of Qatar and Iran did not respond to requests for comment.
On the same day as the scene on the runway, U.S. President Donald Trump had once again threatened military action, saying the U.S. would hit Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT" and take "total control" of its oil and gas industry.
Regional players launched a desperate push to convince Trump to give diplomacy another chance. Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, spoke directly with Trump and urged him to hold off on more strikes because the deal was close, the diplomat said.
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Watch the PBS News Hour segment in the player above.
The efforts paid off. Trump announced that he had canceled the planned strikes. Days later, Washington and Tehran signed an agreement to end the conflict sparked by the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran in February.
The deal aimed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil and gas that Iran shut down at the start of the conflict, and lift a U.S. blockade to allow Iran to export oil. It set a 60-day deadline for negotiating a broader agreement on Iran's disputed nuclear program to include further economic relief for Tehran.
Previous U.S.-Iran negotiations had been facilitated by Oman and Qatar, but they had come under fire early in the war as Iran lashed out at Gulf countries, many of which host American forces.
Pakistan had not often mediated high-stakes diplomacy, but it borders Iran and has good relations with Tehran and Washington.
The negotiating team used a secure system to relay messages between Iranian and U.S. officials. Staff were warned that leaking information could lead to a life sentence, one of the Pakistani officials said.
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Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, played a key role and had a direct line to Trump, officials said.
"As the U.S.-Iran war began to drag on and both parties became keen to strike a deal, Munir's unique network across Washington and Tehran became valuable," said Charles Lyons-Jones, an Australian former diplomat who worked in Pakistan and is now a research fellow at the Lowy Institute in Australia.
A truce was reached in April. Days later, U.S. and Iranian representatives met in Islamabad for their first high-level talks in years.
Trump later said of the ceasefire, "I wouldn't have really been in favor of it, but we did it as a favor to Pakistan, who are terrific people."
Within weeks, prospects of a permanent end to the war appeared to be slipping.
Qatar had said it would not mediate while under fire from Iran, but in mid-May, with strikes on the Gulf country halted, both sides reached out asking Doha to help break the deadlock, the diplomat said.
Qatar had plenty of recent experience, having played a key role alongside Egypt in negotiating the Gaza ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages.
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Working alongside Pakistan, Qatari officials began quietly traveling to Tehran.
Egypt's spy chief, Hassan Rashad, meanwhile opened a line of communication with Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, the head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, who is in touch with Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, one of the regional officials said. Khamenei has been in deep hiding since the start of the war.
The two regional officials said Egypt and Turkey played a major role in keeping a number of Gulf countries — including Saudi Arabia — from joining the war.
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Iran wanted to delay discussing the fate of its highly enriched uranium, the regional officials said.
But mediators convinced it to include a commitment to dilute the stockpile in the draft text in response to U.S. promises to waive sanctions on oil sales and gradually unfreeze billions in Iranian assets.
The sides also compromised on financial relief for Iran, which initially demanded at least $500 billion in reparations, one of the regional officials said. Iran finally agreed to $300 billion in pledged investments linked to a final deal, though it's unclear who would provide that funding.
The Tehran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah had launched missiles into Israel in response to the initial attack on Iran. Israel responded with a blistering aerial bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion.
Iran's stance throughout the talks, which was opposed by Israel and initially the U.S., was that any deal must include a Lebanon ceasefire, and language was put into the draft.
On June 7, Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsen Naqvi was in Tehran to deliver a message bound for Khamenei, urging him to accept the deal.
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On that day, Israel struck Beirut, and Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel. The U.S. and Iran then traded strikes, culminating in the June 11 episode on the tarmac.
After that averted crisis, negotiations moved quickly. Trump announced on June 13 that a deal would be signed the following day. Qatari mediators returned to the Iranian capital for 17 hours of what the diplomat described as intensive negotiations.
As they appeared to be nearing a successful conclusion, Israel struck Beirut again on June 14, crossing what Iran had described as a red line.
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Qatari mediators sought to convince Iran that retaliating "would only play into the hands of the deal's opponents," the diplomat said, adding that heading off the Iranian strikes was what "got the deal over the line."
At Iran's demand, a pledge to ensure Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity was added to the memorandum. Iran says it requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, something Israel still refuses to do.
On June 17, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed.
The U.S. and Iran are now working on a final nuclear agreement with an August deadline. Those talks were delayed by two days — again because of ongoing violence in Lebanon, the diplomat said.
Iran "viewed (the Lebanon ceasefire) as point number one, and if you can't abide by point number one, then why should we discuss two, three, four?" the diplomat said.
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The U.S. and Iran pushed Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a new truce, and the talks in Switzerland went forward on Sunday, focusing on creating a mechanism to solidify the ceasefire in Lebanon.
Trump and Iranian officials have continued to fire off tough public statements, and the Iranians briefly paused the talks in Switzerland after what they said was an insulting message from Trump.
But the diplomat described the atmosphere in Switzerland as "quite positive," with U.S. and Iranian officials having coffee together during breaks.
Sewell reported from Beirut, Magdy from Cairo and Castillo from Beijing.
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