Pakistan reportedly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park at its airfields during the recent U.S.-Iran showdown, even as Islamabad was serving as a diplomatic intermediary between Washington and Tehran. U.S. officials told CBS that multiple Iranian aircraft were sent to Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan days after Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran.
The aircraft reportedly included an Iranian Air Force RC-130, according to the report. Nur Khan is a strategically important installation outside Rawalpindi, and the allegation landed in a period when both capitals were still trying to manage a fragile lull after weeks of confrontation.
A senior Pakistani official rejected the claim involving Nur Khan Air Base and said a large fleet of aircraft parked there “can’t be hidden from [the] public eye.” That denial matters because Pakistan has spent years trying to keep its security relationship with the United States intact while also preserving ties with neighboring Iran.
The timing is awkward for Islamabad. U.S. officials have increasingly viewed pakistan as an important regional partner because of its location along Iran’s roughly 565-mile border, its proximity to Afghanistan, India and China, and its access to the Arabian Sea. At the same time, the Strait of Hormuz remains unstable, with U.S. naval forces and commercial shipping companies on heightened alert after weeks of military escalation involving Iran.
That shipping route is not a side note. In 2024, oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz averaged 20 million barrels per day, equal to 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption, which is why any shift in regional alignment draws attention far beyond South Asia. For Pakistan, the report raises a narrower question: how Islamabad handled the movement of Iranian aircraft while it was also trying to play the mediator.
The episode leaves Pakistan exposed to pressure from both sides and suggests that its balancing act may be getting harder to sustain. Even if the aircraft report is disputed, the fact that it surfaced at all shows how quickly the country’s diplomacy, geography and security ties can collide when Iran and the United States are on edge.
For readers following Pakistan’s broader trajectory, the same country now at the center of a regional aviation dispute has also been in the news for its cricket calendar, from Ban Vs Pak: Pakistan and Bangladesh open two-Test series in Mirpur to Masood backing a balanced Pakistan squad before the Mirpur Test and Azan Awais getting a Pakistan Test call as his red-ball rise accelerates. This time, though, the stakes are diplomatic, not sporting.
