Lindsey Graham Pushes 2026 Review After Pakistan Airfield Report
Lindsey Graham is pressing for a review after U.S. officials said Pakistan quietly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields during the ceasefire period. The aircraft movements came days after President Trump announced the ceasefire with Iran in early April 2026, with Nur Khan Air Force Base named in the U.S. account.
U.S. officials said the parking arrangement could have shielded Iranian aircraft from American airstrikes. Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that the Iranian planes arrived during the ceasefire period and had no linkage to any military contingency or preservation arrangement.
Nur Khan Air Base
U.S. officials said Tehran sent multiple aircraft to Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan days after President Trump announced the ceasefire. An Iranian Air Force RC-130 was among the military hardware sent there, according to the U.S. officials. The report places Pakistan at the center of a sensitive transit route at the same time it was serving as a diplomatic conduit between Tehran and Washington.
A senior Pakistan official rejected the Nur Khan allegation and said a large fleet of aircraft parked there could not be hidden from the public eye. “Nur Khan base is right in the heart of [the] city, a large fleet of aircrafts parked there can't be hidden from [the] public eye,” the official said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Iranian aircraft were in the country to facilitate the movement of diplomatic personnel and security teams if further peace talks were scheduled. The ministry also said, “Pakistan has consistently acted as an impartial facilitator and has been transparent with “all relevant parties.”” It added, “Although formal negotiations have not yet resumed, senior-level diplomatic exchanges have continued,” and described claims that the planes were tied to a military preservation plan as “speculative, misleading, and entirely detached from the factual context.”
That account leaves a narrower but sharper question for Washington: whether Pakistan’s role as a conduit can still be separated from the movement of Iranian military aircraft onto Pakistani soil. U.S. officials have already framed the parking as an apparent effort to insulate remaining Iranian military and aviation assets from the expanding conflict.
Afghanistan’s Iranian Plane
The aircraft story also reached Afghanistan. An Afghan civil aviation officer said an Iranian civilian aircraft belonging to Mahan Air landed in Kabul shortly before the war started, remained parked after Iranian airspace was closed, and was then moved to Herat Airport near the Iranian border for safety reasons when Pakistan began airstrikes on Kabul in March 2026. The officer said it was the only Iranian aircraft left in Afghanistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban chief spokesman, rejected that account. “No, that's not true and Iran doesn't need to do that,” he said, denying the presence of any Iranian airplanes in Afghanistan.
The immediate diplomatic test now sits with Pakistan’s claim of impartiality and the U.S. reading of the same aircraft movements. Pakistan has put its explanation on the record; the report leaves U.S. officials to decide whether those airfields can still be treated as neutral ground in future Iran-related talks.
