SAEDNEWS: A senior Pakistani official has dismissed claims regarding Nur Khan Air Base, stating: “The Nur Khan base is located right in the heart of the city, and a large fleet of aircraft parked there cannot remain hidden from public view.”
According to the political news service of SaedNews Agency, CBS, citing U.S. officials, reported that while Pakistan has positioned itself as a diplomatic intermediary between Tehran and Washington, it secretly allowed Iranian military aircraft to be stationed at its airbases, potentially shielding them from U.S. airstrikes.
The report further states that Iran also sent some of its civilian aircraft to neighboring Afghanistan.
According to the report, a few days after Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran in early April, Tehran sent several aircraft to Pakistan’s Nur Khan Air Base. This base is a strategic military installation located on the outskirts of Rawalpindi, a garrison city in Pakistan.
Among the military equipment sent was an Iranian Air Force RC-130, a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering aircraft based on the Lockheed C-130 Hercules tactical transport aircraft.
A senior Pakistani official denied the claims regarding Nur Khan Air Base, stating: “Nur Khan Base is located in the heart of the city, and a large fleet of aircraft parked there could not be hidden from public view.”
According to a civilian aviation official in Afghanistan, a civilian Iranian aircraft belonging to Mahan Air landed in Kabul shortly before the start of the conflict. After Iran’s airspace was closed, the aircraft remained parked at Kabul Airport.
Later, when Pakistan began airstrikes on Kabul in March amid tensions with the Taliban government, Taliban aviation authorities decided, for safety reasons and to protect it from potential Pakistani airstrikes, to transfer the aircraft to Herat Airport near the Iranian border.
The official added that this was the only remaining Iranian aircraft in Afghanistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s senior spokesperson, denied the presence of any Iranian aircraft in Afghanistan, saying: “No, this is not true, and Iran has no need to do such a thing.”
