Pakistan steps in as Iran mediator while India watches from the wings

As the Iran war reshapes West Asian geopolitics, Pakistan has unexpectedly emerged as a backchannel mediator between Tehran and Washington, potentially sidelining India’s efforts to assert itself as a credible global diplomatic actor.India, despite its growing partnerships with the US, Israel and the Gulf states, has been absent from any meaningful conflict-resolution initiative on Iran.Umer Karim, a political science researcher at the University of Birmingham, said India’s strengthening strategic ties with Israel and efforts to rebuild its US partnership had left it “largely irrelevant and marginalised”.“Its diplomacy has been missing in action for several days after the initiation of hostilities. Even the sinking of an Iranian ship near Indian territorial waters drew muted and reserved reactions from the Indian side,” Karim said.Though India is seeking a larger role in global governance, from its G20 presidency to Global South leadership, it is carefully navigating the war’s fallout to protect its interests in the Middle East and beyond.Any open condemnation of US actions risks derailing its trade rapprochement attempts with Washington, which took a hit when the US imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian exports over Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil last year.