What happened
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir arrived in Switzerland on Sunday to take part in high-level talks on the implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran.
The Foreign Office said the two leaders had departed for Bürgenstock, where the talks were being held, and that senior delegations from Iran, Qatar and the United States would join them. It described the meeting as the first formal engagement between the parties since the memorandum was signed on 17 June 2026.
“Pakistan will continue to support and advance the implementation of the understandings reached between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. It said the prime minister was also expected to hold bilateral interactions with the delegations of Iran, Qatar, Switzerland and the United States to reaffirm Pakistan’s commitment to dialogue and regional stability.
Who is taking part
The talks, held at the Bürgenstock resort on Lake Lucerne, bring together the two countries that signed the memorandum and the mediators who helped broker it. Pakistan’s facilitation role, the Foreign Office said, reflected a “principled, balanced and constructive approach” through the crisis, including hosting earlier rounds of US-Iran talks.
On the sidelines, Sharif and Munir met a United States delegation that included Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and separately met an Iranian delegation led by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Pakistan’s delegation was welcomed by the Swiss foreign ministry.
Why it matters
The memorandum, signed after months of Pakistan-mediated contacts, extended the ceasefire between the two sides and set out steps including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the US naval blockade. KhabarWire reported that the memorandum was electronically signed and took effect on 18 June, and that a formal Swiss ceremony had been called off at the time.
The Bürgenstock round is the first test of whether the understandings move from text to implementation. The talks were originally expected to begin on Friday but were postponed, and officials have said the discussions are expected to continue over several days. The outcome will shape whether the 60-day negotiating window set by the memorandum produces a final agreement.
What is still uncertain
The delegations have not published a detailed agenda, and it is not clear how far the technical discussions on shipping, sanctions relief and the sequencing of the memorandum’s 14 points had advanced on the first day. The fate of the formal signing ceremony, and the timeline for any final agreement, also remained open.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details are as carried by the cited sources, which were reviewed on 2026-06-21.
- Radio Pakistan — "PM, CDF leave for Switzerland to attend talks on Islamabad MoU implementation"21 June 2026 · The departure of the prime minister and Field Marshal Munir, the participants, the first formal engagement since 17 June, and the expected bilateral meetings.
- ARY News — "Pakistan leaders hold talks with Iranian delegation on sidelines of US–Iran dialogue"21 June 2026 · The sideline meetings with the US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance, with Witkoff and Kushner, and the Iranian delegation led by Speaker Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Araghchi.
