An American media report has claimed that Pakistan hosted Iranian military aircraft in one of its airbases to protect them from the US-Israeli airstrike during the recent war, triggering a strong reaction from a Republican Senator, who called for a re-evaluation of Islamabad’s role as a mediator.
The report by CBS News claimed Iran had moved multiple aircraft, including a reconnaissance and patrol aircraft, to Pakistan’s Nur Khan airbase near Rawalpindi shortly after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on April 8.
Iran also moved one of its civilian aircraft to neighbouring Afghanistan after the Iranian airspace was closed during the conflict, the report said, quoting unnamed American officials.
The report said Iran had moved its aircraft to protect them from possible American and Israeli airstrikes, even as Pakistan publicly positioned itself as a diplomatic mediator between the US and Iran, hosting the top political leaders from the two nations in Islamabad for peace talks.
The report claimed among the aircraft moved to Pakistan was an Iranian Air Force’s RC-130, a reconnaissance and patrol variant of the US defence company Lockheed Martin-made C-130 tactical cargo aircraft.
The report immediately received a strong political reaction, with Trump’s Republican colleague and Senator Lindsey Graham questioning Pakistan’s neutrality in the mediation process it was hosting.
“If this reporting is accurate, it would require a complete re-evaluation of the role Pakistan is playing as mediator between Iran, the United States, and other parties,” Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Senator, posted on X. “Given some of the prior statements by Pakistani defense officials towards Israel, I would not be shocked if this were true,” Graham said.
CBS News also claimed that a senior Pakistani official rejected the charge that its Nur Khan airbase hosted the Iranian aircraft, claiming this was not possible due to the location of the airbase in a densely populated region of Rawalpindi.
“Nur Khan base is right in the heart of the city (Rawalpindi), a large fleet of aircraft parked there can’t be hidden from the public eye,” the unnamed Pakistani official was quoted as saying.
However, an unnamed Afghan civil aviation official confirmed to CBS News that an Iranian civilian aircraft belonging to Mahan Air had landed in Kabul shortly before the war began and remained there after Iranian airspace was closed.
The official said the aircraft was later moved to Herat airport near the Iranian border after Pakistan launched attacks on Afghanistan, after accusing the Afghan Taliban of sheltering militants of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The official claimed the Mahan Air aircraft was the only Iranian plane that landed and stayed in Afghanistan during the course of the West Asian war.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid also denied the report. “No, that’s not true, and Iran doesn’t need to do that,” CBS News quoted Mujahid as saying.
A previous Financial Times report had claimed that Pakistan was only a communication go-between and was never a neutral peace broker between the US and Iran. The FT report had noted that Pakistan got involved in that role after the US asked it to do so.
The CBS News report has only intensified global scrutiny of Pakistan’s diplomatic stance on the West Asian war, even as Israel has consistently called into question its role in the peace talks due to its hostility to Tel Aviv.
The report also highlighted Pakistan’s increasing reliance on China for military assistance, essentially questioning its interest in the peace-making effort in West Asia. The report also raised concerns over the balancing act that Pakistan was doing in its ties with the US, China, and Iran.
The report said Pakistan presented itself as a “stabilising intermediary” while avoiding moves that could alienate either Iran or China, Tehran’s closest international backer.