DAWN ONLINE

Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) yesterday termed a report by an American media outlet claiming that Islamabad “quietly allowed” Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields while playing the role of a mediator in the Middle East conflict as “misleading and sensationalised”.

Citing US officials, CBS News had alleged that days after US President Trump announced the ceasefire with Iran in early April, Tehran sent multiple aircraft to the Nur Khan Air Base. “Among the military hardware was an Iranian Air Force RC-130, a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules tactical transport aircraft,” the report claimed.

In a response issued yesterday, the FO said, “Pakistan categorically rejects the CBS News report regarding the presence of Iranian aircraft at Nur Khan Airbase as misleading and sensationalised. Such speculative narratives appear aimed at undermining ongoing efforts for regional stability and peace.”

“Following the ceasefire and during the initial round of the Islamabad Talks, a number of aircraft from Iran and the US arrived in Pakistan to facilitate the movement of diplomatic personnel, security teams and administrative staff associated with the talks process,” it said.

The FO said some aircraft and support personnel remained temporarily in Pakistan in “anticipation of subsequent rounds of engagement.

“Although formal negotiations have not yet resumed, senior-level diplomatic exchanges have continued. In this context, visits by the Iranian foreign minister to Islamabad were facilitated through the existing logistical and administrative arrangements,” it said.

“The Iranian aircraft currently parked in Pakistan arrived during the ceasefire period and bear no linkage whatsoever to any military contingency... Assertions suggesting otherwise are speculative, misleading, and entirely detached from the factual context,” the FO said.

The CBS report comes after its new boss, Bari Weiss, ousted a veteran bureau chief following tensions over coverage of the Middle East, bringing in a new foreign editor who, according to sources, “is more aligned with Weiss’s pro-Israel agenda”, The Guardian reported last month.