PAKISTAN CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT US-IRAN PEACE TALKS Pakistan's military says it is "cautiously optimistic" about mediation efforts between the US and Iran, following another high-level diplomatic visit to Tehran. Army chief Asim Munir visited Iran twice in October, most recently alongside senior Saudi and Turkish officials, suggesting potential progress toward de-escalation. Pakistan also confirmed that its joint defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey remains open to additional members, potentially including Iran, subject to political approval. However, military officials warned that powerful opponents of a settlement remain, without identifying them.

Pakistan has denied carriers from Taiwan access to its airspace in support of Beijing’s One-China policy, the first move of its kind by any country. Full story: 📷: I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg

Pakistan and DFINITY are back at the table, this time over AI Pakistan Digital Authority (@digitalauthpk) chair Dr. Sohail Munir (@sohailmunir) met in Dubai today with @dfinity founder Dominic Williams (@dominic_w) and business chief Pierre Samaties (@PierreSamaties). They discussed setting up a sovereign AI factory to build software for Pakistan’s public sector and deploy it on the PDA Cloud Engine. Williams said the talks also covered the next phases of that Internet Computer ($ICP) cloud engine. It is the second meeting between the two this year. In February they signed a non-binding agreement for a Pakistan subnet on the Internet Computer, with 1,500 licenses for DFINITY’s AI coding tool Caffeine. In August, the UN Development Program and DFINITY launched a sovereign AI pilot for five countries, building on the Pakistan work.

PAKISTAN ARMY CHIEF ARRIVES IN IRAN FOR REGIONAL SECURITY TALKS According to Iranian TV, Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir has arrived in Tehran for the first Mecca Pact meeting with Iran. Discussions reportedly include regional security and escalating Middle East tensions, although the full agenda remains unclear. The key takeaway: A potentially significant diplomatic development amid heightened geopolitical risks.

Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir carried a final US ultimatum to Tehran during his visit yesterday, demanding Iran must concede its entire nuclear program or face large-scale attacks aimed primarily at the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site, per Al-Akhbar citing leaks. Iran rejected it, telling the Pakistanis the US must accept Iran's seven conditions, and told Asim Munir to get back on his plane. Iran's SNSC chief Rezaei told Munir that no enriched nuclear material would ever leave Iran and that there would be no return to talks until the US meets all of Iran's conditions.