After tireless peace efforts led by Pakistan, the United States and Iran signed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), ending the months-long war that started on February 28, 2026 and rapidly escalated to the entire Middle East region.
The US and Israel had attacked Iran and targeted its supreme leader, prompting Tehran to counterattack with missile and drone salvos across the region and effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for the world economy. The US responded by blocking shipping to and from Iranian ports.
Pakistani mediation efforts helped bring the parties to the negotiating table with an initial ceasefire on April 8. Pakistan is widely credited for providing the neutral platform and sustained diplomatic bridge that enabled the fragile pause in hostilities and eventual signing of the deal.
Feb 28 – the ‘D-day’
February 28 was the day the US and Israel launched their offensives against Iran, targeting what they called military sites.
A plume of smoke rises following a reported explosion in Tehran on February 28, 2026. — AFP
This picture obtained from Iran´s ISNA news agency shows the site of a strike on a girls´ school in Minab, in Iran´s southern Hormozgan province, on February 28, 2026. — AFP
Smoke rises in the sky after blasts were heard in Manama, Bahrain, February 28, 2026. — Reuters
Minab school bombing
A girls primary school in Minab, southern Iran, was struck during the opening phase, causing heavy civilian casualties and becoming one of the most sensitive incidents of the war.
A banner with a picture of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, next to a symbolic classroom of the Minab school students who were killed in a strike, in Tehran, Iran, May 8, 2026. — Reuters
Emergency personnel work at the site of an Iranian strike in Beit Shemesh, Israel March 1, 2026. — Reuters
Iran confirms martyrdom of supreme leader
Iran confirmed that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was martyred in the US-Israeli strikes.
People mourn as they gather at the Enghelab Square after Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei was martyred in US-Israel attack on Saturday, in Tehran, Iran, March 1, 2026. — Reuters
Hormuz closure
Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to international shipping, turning the military confrontation into a global energy and maritime crisis.
This handout satellite image taken by 2026 Planet Labs PBC on March 2, 2026 shows smoke billowing from a vessel following an explosion from the port of Bandar Abbas along the strait of Hormuz. — AFP
Israeli army and security forces conduct a search sweep of a house that was hit by Hezbollah projectiles in Moshav Kfar Yuval in northern Israel near the border with southern Lebanon on March 3, 2026. — AFP
Firefighters inspect destruction at a site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 3, 2026. — AFP
Oil prices shoot
Oil prices remained high amid uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz.
After war, oil prices surged across world as he price per litre of unleaded petrol and diesel fuels, along with the cost to chard an electric vehicle (EV), are picture outside a Jet petrol station, a subsidiary of Phillips 66, in Brentford, north west of London, on March 5, 2026. — AFP
Mojtaba Khamenei named Iran’s new supreme leader
Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new paramount leader, signalling regime continuity despite the opening strikes.
On March 9, 2026, Mojtaba Khamenei was named Iran’s Supreme Leader. Mojtaba Khamenei’s pictures along with those of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are displayed in a store in Tehran, Iran June 7, 2026. — Reuters
Hostilities continued as an image showing smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 11, 2026. — AFP
Firefighters extinguish a fire at the site of a strike on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on March 13, 2026. — AFP
Family members and relatives of Ali Shamkhani, Iran´s slain influential security adviser, react during his funeral at the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tajrish square in northern Tehran on March 14, 2026. — AFP
Pakistan announces ceasefire
Pakistan announced an immediate ceasefire between Iran and the United States and said Islamabad would host talks aimed at a conclusive agreement.
On April 8, 2026 Pakistan announced that the US and Iran had agreed to an immediate ceasefire and both parties to hold talks in Islamabad. In this picture, a woman walks past a digital screen displaying news of US-Iran peace talks along a road in Islamabad on April 10, 2026. — AFP
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi look at damaged bags and shoes placed in an airplane cabin, along with pictures of four children from Minab. — Reuters
PM Shehbaz meets US Vice President JD Vance and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, alongside DPM Ishaq Dar, in line with Islamabad Talks in the capital, on April 11, 2026. — Screengrab via PM’s Office
Pakistan intensified efforts for peace deal between US and Iran as Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir visited Iran. In this picture, Field Marshal Munir (left) meets Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi upon his arrival in Tehran on April 15, 2026. — X/@Iran_GOV
US, Iran resume strikes
The US and Iran exchanged heavy strikes in one of the most intense rounds of fighting since the April truce.
A residential building, which was damaged in a US and Israeli strike in March, in Tehran, Iran June 7, 2026. — Reuters
Iranian missiles are launched, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out attacks against a US base in Jordan and 21 other targets in the Gulf in retaliation for American strikes around the Strait of Hormuz, from a location given as Tehran, Iran, released June 10, 2026. — Reuters
Deal signed
The United States and Iran have signed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed as a mediator.
US President Donald Trump signs deal to end Middle East war on June 17, 2026. — @XWhiteHouse
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian shows a signed deal to end Middle East war on June 17, 2026. — @X@Iran_GOV
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signs the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding as mediator, formally sealing the peace agreement between Iran and the US, in Islamabad, June 18, 2026. — X/@PakPMO
2026-06-18 17:00:00
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