- Pakistan allowed Iranian military planes to use its airfields, shielding them from strikes
- Iran parked some civilian aircraft in Afghanistan amid Middle East conflict, per CBS report
- US lawmakers questioned Pakistan’s neutrality after reports of Iranian military presence
Pakistan, while it played a diplomatic conduit between Tehran and Washington, reportedly allowed Iranian military planes to use its airfields as parking, following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, potentially shielding them from American and Israeli airstrikes. Tehran also parked some of its civilian aircraft in neighbouring Afghanistan, though it was not clear if military planes were among those flights, CBS News reported, quoting sources.
Sources told the American publication that Tehran moved several of its key defence assets to Pakistan Air Force Base in Nur Khan, located just outside Rawalpindi. The strategically important military installation, located near Islamabad, provided a secure shelter for Iran to protect its military and aviation assets while Pakistan officially mediated truce efforts between Tehran and Washington.
Among the military hardware that was sent to Pakistan was an Iranian Air Force RC-130, a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering variant of the Lockheed-produced C-130 Hercules tactical transport aircraft, the report said.
US officials with knowledge of the matter told CBS that the aircraft were sent to Nur Khan base days after President Trump announced the ceasefire with Iran in early April.
The US believes that the movement of civilian and military assets to Afghanistan and Pakistan, respectively, was part of Tehran's attempt to insulate some of its remaining military and aviation assets from potential American and Israeli strikes, even as officials publicly served as brokers for de-escalation.
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Report Triggers Backlash in the US
The report has triggered a massive backlash in Washington, with US lawmakers questioning Islamabad's neutrality in the mediation process. Taking to X, Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican senator and a close ally of US President Donald Trump, called for a reassessment of Pakistan's diplomatic role in the crisis.
"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," he wrote in a post.
"Given some of the prior statements by Pakistani defence officials towards Israel, I would not be shocked if this were true," Graham added.
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What Pakistan And Afghanistan Said
A senior Pakistan official rejected the claims involving Nur Khan Air Base. They told CBS that such claims were implausible because the facility is located in a densely populated area.
"Nur Khan base is right in the heart of [the] city, a large fleet of aircrafts parked there can't be hidden from [the] public eye,'' they said.
Neighbouring Afghanistan accepted that an Iranian civilian aircraft belonging to Mahan Air was parked at Kabul airport for a while during the war. An Afghan civil aviation official told the American publication that Iranian civilian aircraft landed in Kabul shortly before the war started and remained parked there for a while because the Iranian airspace was closed amid conflict.
They said the same aircraft was later shifted to Herat airport near the Iranian border for safety reasons after Pakistan launched attacks on Kabul in March during tensions with the Taliban-led government over allegations ofAfghan Taliban offering a safe haven for the terror group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The Afghan official added that the Mahan Air plane was the only Iranian aircraft present in the country.
Taliban's chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, also denied the presence of any Iranian aeroplanes in Afghanistan. "No, that's not true and Iran doesn't need to do that," he said in a statement to CBS.
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Questions Over Pak's Neutrality
This is not the first time that questions have been raised about Pakistan's independent diplomatic stance and its neutrality in the mediation process. Earlier, a Financial Times report suggested that while Pakistan tried to project itself as a peacemaker, it was the White House that pushed Islamabad to broker a temporary ceasefire with Iran. The report suggested that Islamabad was not a neutral broker but rather a convenient channel for the US to push the temporary ceasefire deal.
Israel, America's biggest Middle Eastern ally, has also questioned Islamabad's role in the peace process, expressing deep concern over growing links between Hamas and Pakistan-based terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The latest controversy came Islamabad's way as it attempts to balance ties with both Washington and Tehran while maintaining close strategic and military cooperation with China.
Citing a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute study, CBS reported that China supplied nearly 80 per cent of Pakistan's major arms imports between 2020 and 2024.
The report noted that while Islamabad has tried to position itself as a "stabilising intermediary", it has avoided moves that could alienate either Iran or China, Tehran's closest international ally.
Meanwhile, tensions between the US and Iran remained high, with the US rejecting the latest Iranian proposal to end the war. The plan reportedly included demands for US war reparations, recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and the removal of American sanctions, according to Iran's state-run broadcaster.
