Report alleges Pakistan sheltered Iranian military aircraft at its airbases after ceasefire

Pakistan’s airbases are suddenly part of a much bigger argument — not just about planes, but about whether Islamabad was really a neutral go-between in the US-Iran crisis. The immediate trigger was a CBS News report published on May 12 saying Iran moved several military aircraft, including an RC-130 reconnaissance plane, to Pakistan’s Nur Khan airbase near Rawalpindi after the April 8 ceasefire. Pakistan did not deny that Iranian aircraft were present. It denied the reason. ### What is the actual allegation? The allegation is pretty specific. U.S. officials told CBS that, days after President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire in early April, Tehran sent multiple aircraft to Nur Khan, one of Pakistan’s most sensitive military installations. The implication is that Iran was trying to move vulnerable assets out of harm’s way while the war had paused but could restart. CBS also said Iran sent civilian aircraft to Afghanistan. (cbsnews.com) ### What did Pakistan admit? More than some early denials suggested. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Iranian aircraft were indeed “currently parked” in the country during the ceasefire period. But Islamabad said the flights had “no linkage whatsoever” to any military contingency and were there to support diplomatic personnel, security teams, and possible follow-on talks after the April 11 U.S.-Iran meeting in Islamabad. Pakistan also said U.S. aircraft used the same base during the mediation effort. (cbsnews.com) ### Why does Nur Khan matter? Because Nur Khan is not some obscure tarmac. It sits near Rawalpindi, close to Pakistan’s military nerve center, and it is one of the country’s most strategically important airbases. If Iranian military aircraft were parked there, that looks less like routine transit and more like Pakistan extending state protection — even if only temporarily. That is why this story landed so hard in Washington. (cbsnews.com) ### Is there hard proof the planes were being shielded? Not publicly. What exists right now is an anonymously sourced U.S. account on one side and an official Pakistani explanation on the other. Pakistan’s rebuttal leans on timing — the aircraft arrived after the ceasefire, not during active bombing — and on visibility, arguing that a large hidden military presence at Nur Khan would be impossible to conceal. Pakistani officials speaking to local media also described the presence as just “a few Iranian aircraft.” (cbsnews.com) ### So why is Washington upset anyway? Because mediation depends on trust, and trust is exactly what this story attacks. Even before the aircraft report, Pakistan’s role was getting shakier. Al Jazeera says a CNN report described Trump administration concerns that Islamabad may have been presenting a softer version of Iran’s position to Washington and not forcefully relaying Trump’s anger back to Tehran. Add the aircraft story, and the suspicion becomes obvious — was Pakistan mediating, or leaning? (aljazeera.com) ### Why is this surfacing now? Because the ceasefire itself looks fragile again. On May 12, Trump said the month-old truce was on “massive life support” and dismissed Iran’s latest proposal in harsh terms. That changed the meaning of everything around the talks. A logistical arrangement that might have looked merely awkward last month now looks like evidence in a broader case that the diplomacy was never as neutral or as stable as advertised. (aljazeera.com) ### What is Pakistan trying to protect? Its value as the channel both sides can still use. Pakistan has spent weeks presenting itself as the one capital able to host, shuttle, and stabilize U.S.-Iran contacts. If Washington concludes Islamabad quietly gave Iran military cover while also carrying messages, that mediator role gets much weaker fast. And if the role collapses, one of the last working backchannels in this crisis may go with it. (aljazeera.com) ### Bottom line? The argument is no longer just about whether Iranian planes landed in Pakistan. Pakistan has already said they did. The fight is over what that meant — routine diplomatic logistics, or a deliberate sheltering move that exposed how thin Islamabad’s neutrality really was. (cbsnews.com) (aljazeera.com)