US-Iran truce: ‘Sensitive behind-the-scenes conversations’ paved way for Pakistan-brokered ceasefire

From the show

François Picard is pleased to welcome Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Ambassador of Pakistan to France and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO. According to Ambassador Zahra Baloch, this is less about victory in the conventional sense and more about the survival and recalibration of power. What we are witnessing is not the end of a war, but the emergence of competing narratives that each side must sustain for political legitimacy: both sides claim success, yet neither has truly secured any semblance of victory.

She would argue that Iran’s threshold for success was fundamentally different from that of the United States or Israel. While Washington frames the outcome as a decisive military triumph, Tehran interprets mere regime survival in the face of overwhelming force as strategic victory. At the same time, beneath the surface, the internal architecture of the Iranian state has shifted. Power has consolidated further within the Revolutionary Guards, altering the balance of authority without fundamentally transforming the regime itself. The ceasefire, therefore, should not be mistaken for stability. It is a fragile pause, layered with unresolved tensions, contested interpretations, and regional entanglements that could easily reignite conflict.