Col (r) Ikram Ullah Khan
18 June 2026 will go down as a red letter day in the history of the US-Iran five-decade old strained relations marked by intense hostility when a Memorandum of Understanding was finally signed digitally between the two adversaries, thus bringing an end to an almost 4-month devastating war.
The MoU has rightly been named as “the Islamabad Accord”, thereby acknowledging the pivotal mediatory role played by Islamabad. Pakistan richly deserves a huge pat on the back due to the most crucial role it played to bringing the two sworn enemies to a negotiating table and finally getting the historic MoU signed, thus bringing peace not only to the region but to the entire world which stood on the brink of a catastrophic World War III.
Following the US and Iran signing a Memorandum of Understanding that has brought the “Operation Epic Fury” to a close, the world has taken a sigh of relief as it has saved it from the possible catastrophic fallout for humanity at large as both sides were poised for an assured mutual destruction.
In such a depressing and grim security scenario gripping the region, nay, the entire globe, Pakistan very boldly decided to play a pivotal role of a peace maker and finally succeeded in its mission which ostensibly sounded a mission impossible. Hats off to Pakistani leadership for undertaking such an onerous responsibility which no one on the planet could believe Pakistan would be able to fulfil and come out with its head high.
After several weeks of intense fighting and brutal aerial attacks on Iran that cost thousands of innocent lives, including 168 school children in the very first day of the war, President Trump and his advisors finally realized that it was not possible to achieve the objectives through war which they had set for themselves.
The first and foremost objective of President Trump was to bring a regime change in Iran and install a puppet regime which could serve the US purpose. But the plan so ingeniously choreographed by Trump’s advisors in collaboration with Israel backfired. Instead of further dividing the already polarised nation and bringing a regime change in Iran, it united the Iranian nation which fought back standing like a wall of steel and forced the enemy to assume a defensive posture. After having realized that the US had deeply sunk in the mire, President Trump decided to change his belligerent posture and come to a peace deal in order to save the US from further embarrassment.
After having gone through the text of the MoU comprising 14 points, the first impression one can get out of it is that Iran has largely been successful in getting what it wanted and that the US has finally capitulated on most of the points which it had been insisting on to begin with, and which were the main hurdles in the way of peaceful patch-up.
Although, with the signing of the much-toiled peace agreement euphemistically called Memorandum of Understanding and which took several weeks’ intense efforts put in by all the stake holders including the mediator before it saw the light of day, the foundation has been laid for a permanent peace deal.
Yet the rocky path leading to the final destination ahead involves many pitfalls which would make it hard for both sides to tread on seamlessly. Both sides will be required to exhibit flexibility, meet each other half way and find common ground. With spoilers around, both sides will have to make a careful move forward with a well-measured approach and with patience, wisdom and equanimity in order to frustrate their evil designs and achieve the ultimate objectives.