The United Nations Security Council has adopted by consensus a presidential statement on diplomacy during active hostilities, an initiative put forward by Pakistan, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said.

The Associated Press of Pakistan reported that the statement was adopted on Thursday, 5 November, and that Dar described it as building on Security Council resolution 2788 (2025), adopted unanimously during Pakistan's presidency of the Council in July 2025.

"When hostilities intensify, diplomacy must not retreat," Dar said, adding that diplomacy must become an even more powerful instrument for de-escalation, dialogue and peace.

What the statement covers

According to the Foreign Office, the statement reaffirms the Council's commitment to the peaceful settlement of disputes under Chapter VI of the UN Charter and underlines the importance of keeping diplomatic engagement going even after armed conflict has broken out.

The draft text was circulated by Pakistan to Council members on 14 October and went through three revisions, passing a silence procedure on 4 November after the United States broke silence on an earlier version, according to Security Council Report. The agreed text stresses direct and indirect channels of communication between parties to a conflict, to reduce the risk of miscalculation.

Text not yet published

The Council's own list of presidential statements for 2026 did not yet carry the new text when this article was written, so the account of its wording rests on Pakistan's summary of its own initiative rather than on a published UN document. Presidential statements are not binding; they are issued by the Council's president on its behalf.

The adoption comes as Pakistan has been pressing for diplomacy over the US-Israel war on Iran.

Sources: APP via KhabarWire, UNSC Pakistan diplomacy statement, 5 November 2026; The News, Dar, Araghchi in diplomatic scramble, 5 November 2026.