Pakistan, June 16 -- The Iran-US agreement represents an extraordinary diplomatic success for Pakistan, built on a series of coordinated diplomatic moves that can be broken down into four key achievements.

On one side stood the United States and Israel, engaged in military confrontation with Iran, while major powers either appeared paralysed or had effectively withdrawn into indifference. Yet there was another danger, perhaps even greater. Israel's effort, or perhaps its central design, was to transform this conflict into a war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Had that happened, Islamic civilisation would have been drawn into a destructive struggle against itself while Israel watched from the sidelines. The plan appeared complete. Then Pak...