Pakistan’s role is not to impose a settlement, but to ensure that when either side is prepared to step back from confrontation, a diplomatic channel and a workable framework remain available.

YPG’s recent setbacks extend well beyond the Syrian theater. They may act as a catalyst for broader recalibration among Kurdish armed movements operating against the Islamic Republic –one that privileges political survivability over armed maximalism.

For Tehran, the Zangezur Corridor thus represents less a binary choice between obstruction and acquiescence than a test of its ability to align strategic red lines with policy innovation.

Israel’s air strikes revealed more than military weakness; they exposed a systemic failure in Iran’s ability to think strategically in an interconnected world.