New Delhi: Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar visited ThePrint newsroom for an interaction Thursday. The discussion revolved around the West Asia war and Pakistan’s role as mediator, Lebanon, Iran and Israel’s complex history, and the situation in Gaza.
Pakistan was not “consequential” in determining the future of West Asia, Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar told ThePrint Thursday, pointing to the United States’ decision to select Islamabad as a mediator.
The remark comes while Islamabad remains in a central role in brokering peace between Iran and the US, which, along with Israel, has launched strikes across the West Asian country. Top American officials were in Islamabad on 11 April for direct negotiations with the Iranian leadership.
Azar said, “I think you have all the reasons to be anxious about it [Pakistan’s role as a mediator]. The US in the past also used the services of countries we don’t like, like Qatar, which has a proven record of supporting terrorism and extremism. Sometimes, it has also worked out to our benefit.”
“Pakistan has been a facilitator. The Americans have their reasons for choosing them. But we [Israel] want to see the substance of the outcomes…We have confidence in the process,” the Israeli ambassador added.
Tel Aviv has remained circumspect about Islamabad’s ability to mediate an end to the conflict. The current conflict began at the end of February this year, with the US strike killing 168 children and staff in a Minab school being one of the pivotal moments that spiked tensions.
Earlier this month, days after the US and Iran announced a ceasefire, Israel hit out at Khawaja Asif, after the Pakistani Defence Minister denounced Israel as “evil” and a “curse on humanity” in a now-deleted post on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called Asif’s statement “outrageous”. Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar labelled the comments as “anti-semitic blood libel”.
When questioned about Islamabad’s defence agreement with Riyadh and its increasing clout in West Asia, Reuven Azar was categorical in stating that this was not the first time Pakistan had been active in the region.
“It is not the first time that the Pakistanis are active in our region, but I do not think they are consequential for determining the future of our region,” he told ThePrint.
In 1970, Pakistani military experts, including future President Zia-ul Haq, were part of a delegation that trained the Jordanian Army to prepare for battle. This was at the height of Black September—a 10-month period in Jordanian history, when King Hussein launched an attack to oust the Yasser Arafat-led Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) from the country.
The PLO had been supported by Jordan following the end of the 1967 Six Day War, but eventually, PLO elements sought to oust the Hashemite monarchy controlling Amman.
Around that time, the Pakistani government was one of two countries, apart from the United Kingdom, to recognise Jordan’s annexation of the West Bank, before it was lost during the Six Day War to Israel.
Pakistan, more recently, deployed nearly 13,000 troops to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz Airbase after the signing of the strategic mutual defence agreement between Islamabad and Riyadh in September 2025.
Islamabad has also sought to sell weapons systems to countries in the region allied with Saudi Arabia, including the Sudanese Armed Forces, according to a number of reports by Reuters. However, in the last few weeks, most of these deals have fallen through due to a lack of Riyadh’s funding commitments.
New Delhi has kept a close eye on the region, especially Pakistan’s role as a mediator in the current conflict.
US Vice President J.D. Vance, along with President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, travelled to the Pakistani capital on 11 April for direct negotiations with the Iranian leadership to find a solution to the conflict.
The marathon 21-hour negotiation efforts between the US and Iran did not reach a conclusion. A second round of negotiations had been planned last weekend in Islamabad, but failed to materialise.
Iran has maintained that no direct negotiations can take place until the US lifts its naval blockade against Iranian ports.
Reuven Azar maintained that the joint US-Israeli military action against Iran has helped degrade Iran’s ballistic missiles’ capability, while also setting back Tehran’s nuclear ambitions by three to five years.
“For the first time, Iran had to be held accountable for their aggression. This gives us an opening and hope,” said Azar. “We know that the Iranian people are slowly moving away from the regime.”
He added, “We were very clear we wanted to remove two existential threats, and this is what we are doing.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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