Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday said he does not “trust Pakistan” after reporting suggested that Pakistan is cooperating with Iran while serving a mediator role amid peace talks between the Trump administration and Tehran.
CBS News reported Pakistan has allowed Iranian military aircraft to use its airfields such as Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan, “potentially shielding them from American airstrikes,” U.S. officials familiar with this information told the outlet.
Graham asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee about whether or not Iranian aircraft allowed in Pakistan is “consistent with [Pakistan] being a fair mediator.” Hegseth said he did not want to get in the middle of negotiations.
“I want to get in the middle of these negotiations,” Graham replied. “I don’t trust Pakistan, as far as I can throw them. If they actually do have Iranian aircraft parked in Pakistan bases to protect Iranian military assets, that tells me we should be looking maybe for somebody else to mediate.”
“No wonder this damn thing is going nowhere,” he added.
Graham on Monday said that if the reporting is true, the U.S. should reevaluate Pakistan’s role as a mediator.
“Given some of the prior statements by Pakistani defense officials towards Israel, I would not be shocked if this were true,” Graham wrote on the social platform X.
Pakistani officials on Tuesday stated that Iranian planes were in the country but rejected CBS’s reporting, accusing the network’s story of being “misleading and sensationalized.”
“Following the ceasefire and during the initial round of the Islamabad Talks, a number of aircraft from Iran and the United States arrived in Pakistan to facilitate the movement of diplomatic personnel, security teams, and administrative staff associated with the talks process,” the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Some aircraft and support personnel remained temporarily in Pakistan in anticipation of subsequent rounds of engagement.”
The ministry added that the aircraft within its borders “arrived during the ceasefire period and bear no linkage whatsoever to any military contingency or preservation arrangement.” The ministry defended Pakistan’s stance as an “impartial, constructive, and responsible facilitator in support of dialogue and de-escalation.”
Pakistan has emerged as a key actor in U.S.-Iran talks to bring an end to the conflict, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country’s powerful military leader Asim Munir both having taken on roles as mediators throughout the extended ceasefire.
The country hosted the first round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, held in Islamabad last month. A second round of negotiations was scheduled more than a week later, though talks ahead of that meeting fell apart.
Pakistan was later among “other Countries” that President Trump said urged him to pause the U.S. operation “Project Freedom” after the U.S. submitted a new peace proposal last week.
The Iranian regime responded with a counteroffer, which included demands the Trump administration left out of the latest deal.
Trump on Sunday blasted their reply as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE” and said Iran will be “laughing no longer.”
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament and the country’s top negotiator, urged the U.S. to accept his country’s 14-point proposal, or else “more American taxpayers will pay for it.”
That proposal includes a 30-day drawdown of the conflict, the withdrawal of American forces from Iran, lifting sanctions on Iranian assets, reparations, a stop to the fighting in Lebanon and a new path on how to govern the Strait of Hormuz, NPR reported.
