Pakistan’s mediation effort between Washington and Tehran deserves more scrutiny than it has received, and for a reason that has nothing to do with Islamabad’s diplomatic competence. The problem is structural. Any agreement that addresses Iran’s nuclear program while leaving its crypto-financial infrastructure intact is not a settlement. It is a postponement, one that preserves and quietly legitimizes the architecture Tehran will deploy in the next confrontation.

Understanding why requires taking seriously what crypto has done to the geometry of American leverage.

Iran’s crypto ecosystem, valued at roughly $7.8 billion, has become part of the financial spine of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…