Pakistan has allowed Iranian military aircraft to use its airfields during the recent Iran-US conflict, despite publicly positioning itself as a mediator between Tehran and Washington, according to US officials familiar with the matter.
Officials told CBS News that, shortly after President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran in early April, Tehran moved several aircraft to Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan near Rawalpindi, one of Pakistan’s most strategically significant military installations.
Among them was reportedly an Iranian Air Force RC-130 reconnaissance aircraft, a surveillance variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules.
Iran also moved at least one civilian aircraft into neighboring Afghanistan, officials said, in what appeared to be a broader effort to shield aviation assets from potential U.S. strikes as the conflict escalated.
However, Pakistan denied the allegations.
A senior Pakistani official told CBS News that claims about Iranian aircraft at Nur Khan Air Base were “not true,” arguing that such movements could not go unnoticed because the base is located in a densely populated urban area.
In Afghanistan, an aviation official said an Iranian Mahan Air plane landed in Kabul shortly before hostilities began and remained stranded after Iranian airspace closed.
The aircraft was later relocated to Herat Airport near the Iranian border after Pakistani airstrikes around Kabul during heightened tensions with the Taliban government.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied any Iranian aircraft were being sheltered in Afghanistan.
The revelations underscore Pakistan’s delicate balancing act during the crisis. Islamabad has sought to maintain close ties with Washington while avoiding friction with Tehran and Beijing, its key strategic partners. China, which now supplies roughly 80% of Pakistan’s major arms imports according to SIPRI data, has publicly praised Pakistan’s role in facilitating indirect U.S.-Iran communications.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to stabilize the ceasefire remain fragile. Iranian state media said Tehran’s latest proposal to end the conflict included demands for US reparations, recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, and the lifting of American sanctions.
Trump dismissed the proposal as “totally unacceptable.”