As American and Iranian negotiators inch toward a deal to end months of conflict, President Donald Trump has dramatically raised the stakes, demanding that a clutch of Muslim-majority nations formally recognise Israel by joining the Abraham Accords as part of any final settlement.
For Pakistan, as it is for several others named by Trump on Monday, the demand is a wedge between Washington's expectations and domestic political reality.
Pakistan has never recognised Israel in its 78-year history, a position tracing back to founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah's explicit rejection of the UN partition of Palestine in 1947-48.
Every Pakistani government, be it democratic, martial, or a mix, has since held that line publicly.
There's been pressure to break from it; notably, after the original Abraham Accords were signed in 2020, then-PM Imran Khan, who is now in jail, said Washington had been pushing him.
Trump has repeatedly credited Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pak Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir with having brokered the truce.
Yet, of all the countries named by Trump, it's Pakistan where the establishment finds itself in arguably the trickiest paradox.
Pakistan's stated position on Israel — no recognition without a Palestinian state — mirrors that of fellow Muslim nation Saudi Arabia, with which it has a landmark defence agreement.
The demand essentially falls on the remaining four, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan.
