Pakistan has rejected allegations that it had sheltered Iranian military aircraft from potential United States strikes as the fragile ceasefire it helped broker between Washington and Tehran appears increasingly at risk, reports Al Jazeera.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Tuesday came hours after US President Donald Trump said the month-old truce was on "massive life support" as he dismissed Iran's latest peace proposal as "a piece of garbage" that he had not even finished reading.
Trump's remarks followed a report by CBS News on Monday saying Iran had moved several military aircraft, including an RC-130 reconnaissance plane, to Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan near Rawalpindi after the April 8 ceasefire, potentially shielding them from US attacks.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called the report "misleading and sensationalised", saying the aircraft had arrived as part of diplomatic logistics linked to talks in Islamabad between senior US and Iranian officials on April 11. Pakistan said both Iranian and US aircraft used the base.
"The Iranian aircraft currently parked in Pakistan arrived during the ceasefire period and bear no linkage whatsoever to any military contingency or preservation arrangement," the ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry also pointed out that any significant foreign military presence at the base would be impossible to hide.
"Assertions suggesting otherwise are speculative, misleading, and entirely detached from the factual context," it said, adding that Pakistan had "consistently acted as an impartial, constructive and responsible facilitator" throughout the process.
A CNN report published hours after the CBS story said some Trump administration officials believed Pakistan has been sharing "a more positive version of the Iranian position with the US than what reflects reality" while questioning whether Islamabad was "aggressively conveying Trump's displeasure".
A Pakistani official told Al Jazeera that Islamabad has been as direct with both parties as any neutral arbiter could be because mediation requires impartiality to succeed rather than pushing agendas.
"Objective is to resolve the complex, historical, highly consequential conflict rather than earning brownie points or headline diplomacy," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorised to speak to the media.US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally and member of his Republican Party, called for "a complete reevaluation" of Pakistan's mediator role, saying on X that he "would not be shocked" if the CBS report proved accurate.
Analysts, however, said the controversy was unlikely to significantly damage Islamabad's position.
"Pakistan has done more than many had expected. Delivering a ceasefire in an environment marred by sheer distrust was no mean feat," Syed Ali Zia Jaffery, deputy director at the Centre for Security, Strategy and Policy Research at the University of Lahore, told Al Jazeera.
He said the fact that both Tehran and Washington continued to rely on Pakistan suggested the allegations would have limited impact.
"As long as both capitals believe that Islamabad remains a dependable facilitator and mediator, such reportage won't have any impact. This is a multiparty war, which leaves a lot of room for spoilers to obfuscate things," Jaffery said. The immediate trigger for the latest tensions was Washington's rejection of an Iranian peace proposal delivered through Pakistan on Sunday.
Iranian state media said Tehran's terms included US war reparations, full Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to sanctions and the release of its frozen assets while insisting nuclear negotiations be deferred to a later stage.
Trump, posting on his Truth Social platform, described the proposal as "totally unacceptable".
