"On March 25, Pakistani officials passed on a "15-point proposal" from the US to Iran." [Pakistani officials]
Pakistan's role as message-carrier for a 15-point US proposal during active conflict demonstrates how small states gain structural leverage by serving as the only viable communication channel between adversaries.
Reasoning from this article
Oman hosted multiple rounds and its foreign minister served as the primary mediator throughout; Pakistan stepped in as mediator during the 2026 war phase when Oman's role was constrained. Qatar also participated in mediation efforts. This pattern—where states with no direct stake in the core dispute become indispensable because adversaries lack diplomatic relations—is a generalizable structural dynamic. It applies beyond Iran-US to any dyad of nuclear-armed or near-nuclear adversaries (e.g., India-Pakistan, US-North Korea) where back-channel states extract diplomatic capital and economic concessions in exchange for communication services.