Iran War | Pakistan's "Neutrality" Under Fire After Iranian Aircraft Revelation

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:03]Good evening. Welcome to Left Right and Center. I'm Vishnu Shob. An online video accessed by NDTV which you'll just see indicates that Pakistan has been consistently providing refuge to Iranian military aircraft when Theran is in conflict not only during the course of the present war in West Asia. I'm going to describe this video. This was taken from YouTube. It was posted by somebody called Nadim Nagar. These are images in fact from July last year. This is these are Boeing 747 aircraft. That KC 707 aircraft that you see on the extreme right is an air-to-air refueling tanker of the Iranians. So this was last year shortly after Israel attacked Iran.

[00:00:47]Where did they put these aircraft? They put these aircraft in Pakistan in Karach. We've got another picture as well. So let's bring you that other picture. It's again from last year. And why am I showing you images of last year? I'll explain. Bear with me. That's a KC 747. It was a one-ofa-kind aircraft. This is the actual picture.

[00:01:08]There was only one KC747 in the Iranian Air Force, in fact, in the world, which was used as a refueling tanker. This aircraft, incidentally, has been destroyed in the last couple of months, and that's another Iranian uh Boeing 747. So, these are images from last year. now uh and that's been put up on YouTube of Iranian aircraft in Pakistan.

[00:01:31]But screenshots of this video, which we'll show you shortly, come a day after a CBS news report highlighted that Pakistan was presently harboring Iranian aircraft. NDTV brought you the first highresolution satellite images of these aircraft. These revelations raise serious concerns over Pakistan's neutrality while acting as mediator in ongoing US Iran peace talks amidst the West Asia tensions. That's why we are doing this report. So that YouTube video as I mentioned dated the July 2025 shows Iranian aerial refueling tankers and aircraft that you can see over here right parked at Karachi airport weeks after Israeli strikes last year. And now what we have done is we've procured highresolution satellite imagery. Let's stay on this image for a while which reveals an Iranian air force RC1 138.

[00:02:25]It's a variant of the Hercules aircraft.

[00:02:27]It's an electronic warfare aircraft.

[00:02:29]We've marked it in this picture over here at Pakistan's Nurhan air base. It's been there for a period of time. The big question is how are Pak Iranian military aircraft in Pakistan for a month plus at a time when America is waging war along with Israel against Iran. It's quite clear that Iran is moving its aircraft to Pakistan and there's some sort of an agreement you know between them. The Iranian aircraft remains stationary at this Pakistani air base for nearly one month without moving from its position.

[00:03:05]That's key. Now, the US Senator Lindseay Graham has expressed strong distrust in Pakistan's mediation in this war. Here's what he's had to say. Take a look. 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.

[00:03:38]>> So the government of Pakistan has rejected the CBS news report as misleading and sensationalized while defending its regional peace efforts.

[00:03:45]But I think the larger question remains if you are a mediator and you are ostensibly independent then how are you housing the military aircraft of one of the sides and how exactly is America looking in the opposite direction?

[00:04:00]That's also something that needs to be looked at. Professor Kobe Michael, senior researcher at INSS joins us.

[00:04:06]Chris Osborne with us as well, president and editor and chief at the Center for Military Modernization and James Bowen, Middle East expert. Thanks all very much for being with us. Um, Chris Osborne, let me come to you first. Can Pakistan really be trusted by the United States?

[00:04:22]You know, I mean, it's quite clear that that Iranian aircraft have been on their soil not just now, but a year a year back as well.

[00:04:31]I think there's a precedent which is kind of precarious in the sense that there's really a lot of unclear evidence as to whether Pakistan can be trusted.

[00:04:39]It would seem most likely that some of the senior American officials who are saying no, I don't think we can really trust Pakistan. There's a lot of evidence to support that position. It goes all the way back to Operation Enduring Freedom and the US military presence in Afghanistan and questions about Taliban cooperation with Pakistan.

[00:04:59]But even beyond that, in the more immediate context, I think there's very cons very concerning amount of evidence that Pakistan is definitely not to be trusted.

[00:05:09]>> No. Professor Michael, uh, how would you look at this? You know, I mean, what we've done in our reports is what you see on your screen right now. That's a recent image. It shows an Iranian aircraft, an electronic warfare platform. And these are images from a year back, shortly after Israel and the US struck uh Iran. Um again, how does is it not odd that Pakistan would call itself a mediator? In other words, being detached from both sides while housing the military aircraft of one country.

[00:05:41]>> It looks that we have to ask ourselves how it comes that Pakistan suddenly became to be the ultimate moderator between Iran and the US. And the second question that I have in mind what happened to the US that has not learned nothing from the past. I would like to remind our viewers what Pakistan did with Bin Laden. Okay. And when Bin Laden exactly was targeted and killed by the by the US. Okay. And this was in the days that Pakistan was supposed to cooperate with the US against the Taliban in uh in Afghanistan. So uh I think that Pakistan has the reasons of itself to become the mediator and these reasons are not related to the US and these reasons are not related to the stability of the region or um to any peaceful purposes. All the reasons are related to the interests of Pakistan. uh the internal domestic problems that Pakistan has, the relations that Pakistan has with Iran, the commitments that Pakistan has visav the Saudis and some other reasons and I don't think that at the end of the day something will come out of this mediation and I think that uh the US should rethink about uh not only the Pakistanian mediation but about the relations between the US and Pakistan.

[00:07:14]James Bowen, it's I mean implicitly clear that the United States would have been fully aware of Iranian aircraft on Pakistani soil shortly after Israel and America launched attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities last year and they would absolutely be aware of the presence of these aircraft on in a Pakistani air base this time around.

[00:07:35]It's quite obvious that America is looking the other way or has quote unquote permitted this from happening, you know, permitted this. They've allowed this to happen. Why would they do that?

[00:07:48]>> Well, I've been watching Donald Trump go back and kind of lurch back into his core personality traits and core desires of not having open conflict and war uh for a little while. He especially back going back last year. I mean, you you look at the um the summit that he held with world leaders right before Midnight Hammer, and his body language suggested that he was being drugged into having to bomb the Iranian nuclear sites. And of course, he took a lot of credit for it afterward, but his body language and verbal uh expressions didn't match that.

[00:08:24]And I think that Netanyahu was able to successfully pull him into this war. And then all of a sudden he kind of lurched, like I said, back into his core personality habit of not wanting to go into conflict and wanting to seek a resolution to this through peace. Uh he has long wanted to have a much greater much bigger diplomatic breakthrough than Obama had with the original JCPOA. And I think that he has seen these conflicts as something that has interfered with that opportunity. And so I think that yeah, the United States has decided to compromise on certain things in order to go after a much greater opportunity.

[00:09:07]Whether that's going to succeed, I don't think so. And the problem is it's this kind of behavior and looking the other way that guarantees that we're going to be headed to an Iran war II.

[00:09:19]>> You know, with these planes and these assets being moved back and forth and with Israel looking at these assets being beyond their grasp, as soon as it gets back into their grasp, they're going to take the they're going to reach for the golden ring. They're going to say, "Hey, we're going to go after this."

[00:09:36]>> Uh Chris Osborne, you know, I think the Israel point is absolutely fascinating.

[00:09:40]It is interesting now Israel doesn't have any diplomatic relations with Pakistan. They don't have an embassy in Pakistan. They have serious problems with Pakistan. They accept the argument for example the argument made by India that Pakistan is a state sponsor of terrorism and yet they are fighting Iran but Iran is moving its aircraft at a time of war uh to a third country. Where does that leave Israel?

[00:10:08]Well, that's an important question because it seems Israel would be unclear as to what exactly is happening. The thing that is very clear is that there's a tactical reason for moving large fixedwing aircraft like this. these country like Iran is very experienced and very adept at recognizing uh EOIR sensors or satellite imagery and something like a non-stalthy large fixedwing aircraft for a tanker is very easily recognizable from the air very easily destroyed from the air by the precision campaign of the US and Israel.

[00:10:43]So there's a real tactical advantage because the strategy would be from the air to take out some of those fixed wing targets that are clearly visible visible from sensors and satellites. Well, moving them away, it's a clear obvious military tactical maneuver. And so that would leave Israel somewhere unclear because they obviously have concerns about Pakistan. No one wants to preemptively start to bring another country into the conflict. But the idea of available targets not being seen from the air is this is a tactical variable that's impacting that. And it might help to a short to a certain extent explain why despite all of the precision bombing and all of the detailed efforts from the air to eliminate Iranian assets, there's still a lot left. A lot of reporting is saying there's still a lot of missiles.

[00:11:35]There are a lot of underground small boats. There are a lot of drones. there are a lot of lethality and military capability that Iran still has despite the weeks of epic fury. You know, I'm just going to talk a little bit about the aircraft that you see on your screen, and I'm going to ask uh my uh director to actually put that up big screen because there's a real uh story to be told over here. uh and uh this particular aircraft, the KC747 which was parked last year when shortly after Israel and America were hitting uh Iran and that KC77 these at least one of these the Boeing 747 uh which you'll see in the next image has in fact been destroyed a couple of months back uh this not right so just freeze let's stay with this image for a while that KC7 absolutely critical because that is also and a refueling tanker. Uh Iran relies on these extremely old aircraft and through some fairly ingenious um servicing and and repairs they are able to keep these flying. So that's one aircraft that may have been hit uh in the last couple of months. These images remember are from last year when they managed to get them out. At least two KC77s have been destroyed as a result of the US and Israeli strikes this year.

[00:12:53]Let's go to the next image uh because this is really interesting and let's freeze on this image for a while. This particular KC747, it's a variant of the 747 as I understand it is just one of two uh Boeing 747 tankers which were built.

[00:13:11]It's approximately 54 years old or it was 54 years old. They managed to get it out. Uh they somehow managed to service it and use it for all of these decades.

[00:13:22]Iranians extremely skilled operators of these aircraft but just a couple of months back um this aircraft was destroyed in the strikes as well. Um so Chris I suppose the question therefore is the reason Iran is desperate to do this is because they are sanctioned they don't have aircraft which are available and therefore they are in a situation where they have no choice but to get their few aircraft out. Right.

[00:13:52]Well, absolutely. There isn't much of an air capability. I mean, years ago, there was some concern or speculation or even factual knowledge of F-14s being in Iran. There's known for, of course, a lot large arsenal of drones. But as far as an actual air force or air capability, there hasn't been much of one. And what has been talked about with Epic Fury, whatever is visible from sensors, satellites, drones, and fixedwing surveillance planes has been destroyed. That is by design the effort of effectsbased or precisiong guided air campaign warfare is to see things render an enemy unable to function without necessarily destroying the infrastructure. And the entire premise of an of an attack like that is based on what's called five rings, strategic rankings, command and control supply lines, fielded forces, key assets, things like fixedwing aircraft. So when those can't be seen from the air, they can't be destroyed. And so that's very much the tactical advantage that if Pakistan is doing that for the Iranians, that is an extremely significant military and tactical uh help andor advantage that's being that's being extended.

[00:15:02]>> We're also joined by Dr. Hamid Khan Al- Mashri. He's a Pakistani journalist based in London and a strategic affairs expert. Uh thank you very much, sir, for being with us. I'm just curious to understand to the best of your knowledge is there um an overriding agreement between Thran and Islamabad where in the event of a conflict Iran can move its aircraft across to Pakistan.

[00:15:25]>> Uh thank you very much. No, there is no such agreement to support or to uh logistically uh you know provide any kind of assistance to Iran and as a matter of fact Pakistan hasn't done anything like that. It is mostly it is all a fabricated stories most of them.

[00:15:42]At the matter of fact, yes, uh whatever happened during those uh Islamabad talks day on that week, Pakistan have already took Americans in confidence as well and it was in the knowledge of Trump administration. Other than that it is mostly it's a fabricated stories and on the other >> it's a fabricated story sir if we've got pictures of these aircraft which are Inaradian aircraft put up by a Pakistani YouTuber of last year July 2025 a couple of weeks after Israel struck Iran. What were these aircraft including a 747 tanker and a 707 both of which have likely been destroyed this year. What were they doing in Pakistan last year?

[00:16:27]Uh I mean it is very easy that I mean it has nothing to do it was not the war time at that time when >> it was war time sir these aircraft were there just these pictures come just a couple of days a couple of weeks after Iran was struck by Israel and the United States.

[00:16:44]>> No no no I think you need to correct your dates. It was in June when Iran wasn't >> June was struck. Why would there be multiple Iranian aircraft still on Pakistani soil? Because there are at least six aircraft that we've counted in this particular aircraft. In this particular picture, you can see three.

[00:17:02]Two of them likely civilian. One of them a military KC77. The next one is the only Boeing 747 tanker which used to be with the Iranians. And another Boeing 747. Go to the next picture. This is last year.

[00:17:17]>> Okay.

[00:17:17]>> Within days of a conflict >> ending, right? Two 747s there.

[00:17:22]>> Let me tell you one thing. before accusing or making uh jumping to the >> I'm not accusing stating a fact.

[00:17:28]>> Yeah, I know. I mean it is it is it is a fact on your end but I'm just trying to explain something uh that before accusing are jumping into any conclusion we need to see the ground realities.

[00:17:39]Ground reality is that the whole area is a war zone. So many planes had to had you know emergency landing. There were some UAE planes. There were some other planes.

[00:17:48]>> Sir, sir, sir, sir. Are you suggesting that Iran did emergency landings of six or seven aircraft last year when they were being struck and that's how they landed up in Pakistan?

[00:17:59]>> No.

[00:17:59]>> In case in case of Iran, I have very clearly said that the state of Pakistan, the government of Pakistan have denied and as the matter of fact, they have clearly said it is fabricated stories.

[00:18:11]As a matter of fact, >> sir, but that's exactly what we journalists try and do to examine if the story is fabricated or not. So let's just take a look at this satellite image and decide if this is fabricated. This is a highresolution satellite image from Vanter. Let's have it up on the screen if we can. And the aircraft that you see and let's have it up on the screen right over here is an EW an electronic warfare variant of a C130 used by the Iran Air Force. It contrasts even visibly uh you know compared to the other C130s which Pakistan has at the same Nurh Khan air base which are these gray ones right these this is visually different as well the EW pods uh make this visibly different from the other PF aircraft at this base let's zoom in over here if we can so that I can explain to our viewers why this is believed to be an authentic picture right and there are airpar experts who have actually written uh and mentioned mentioned how this is very much an Iranian aircraft which has been there in Pakistan for a month but be that as it may and you can argue that look this aircraft is there at a time when there are talks but take a look sir at the earlier image which I spoke to you about and therefore my question remains >> if we've got if this has been happening from 2025 is there an agreement between Islamabad and >> no there is no such agreement between Islamabad and there are I mean there are so many commercial flights there are so many activities. It's nothing to do with anything to do with the current mediation role of Pakistan. It has nothing to do with it. First of all, Pakistan is playing a very crucial role to stop the third world war. Pakistan is playing a role of a mediator. Pakistan is the one who has made sure that America and Iran would not go on any further conflict. Instead of appreciating these are the >> No, we appreciate the role of Pakistan or any country in the world that can bring us peace. It impacts all of us directly. So it's not a question of appreciating. It's a question which is a very basic question and I think a journalistically viable question which is this. How can a mediator who is supposed to be independent be parking the military assets of one of the countries involved in a war? A war that it is trying to mediate on. It's a simple question. It is first of that's what I'm saying. If that is where I'm saying it is a fabricated thing because the >> fabricated sir I have not fabricated these images sir the satellite image comes from vant the earlier image has been put up lightly by a Pakistani poster on YouTube >> that is that is false propaganda works look how propaganda sir >> I'm a journalist I fully understand how does the fake and false propaganda works this is how you use the propaganda tool to sabotage the efforts of government of >> no nobody is sabotaging any effort when we hope there is peace. I was I was with the I was with the Iranian deputy foreign minister just a couple of hours back and we all sincerely hope that there is peace. But let me just go across to uh to to Chris Osborne for a second. Do you Chris buy the argument made by Dr. Hamid Khan over there that you know this is all fabricated essentially?

[00:21:26]Uh, no. The the the resolution and orientation of these kinds of satellite images are very precise and they're verifiable and they're very available in the commercial realm. Something like Google Earth makes publicly available satellite images that are very difficult to fabricate.

[00:21:46]Yes, there are ways to doctor images, but there's not only are they high resolution and accurate, but also they're they're replicated. So there are many many instances of these kinds of things that can be verified through satellite images. There's also a history of precedent. one of the the experts that you had on was very very intelligently pointed out the history of Pakistan's duplicitous stance whether it's regarding the Taliban and then more recently there's been public reports that Pakistan is now in a contract to acquire a large number of J35As which is a stealthy fifth generation Chinese aircraft so there's a history of collaboration with China there's a history of duplicitous behavior regarding operation enduring ing freedom and the Taliban and then of course in this case it's very it's very easy to kind of verify the authenticity of images such as this. So I would look at these with a high degree of skep look at Pakistan with a high degree of skepticism and really put things together which is what you're doing looking at the images looking at the timing there was indeed conflict with Israel around that general time frame and then more recently there is a tremendous incentive for the part of the Iranians to have their targets not visible from the air because anything that's visible from the air is going to be destroyed and a country like Iran is very adept Ed understanding that it calls to mind something with the Iraq war when the Iraqi government put inflatable tanks so that in the obscurance of sand something that was rubber might appear to be a tank to an overhead surveillance plane. countries like the are very familiar with the precision and the fidelity of sensors from the west from Israel which is of course from the Middle East but then also from the US from the >> and you know a final word uh you know to you James Bowen it was interesting that just half a second >> I just wanted to go across to James Bowen at at at a Senate appropriations committee uh meeting yesterday uh Lindsey Graham the the senator asked questions of Pete Hexith and the the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and he never never really got any clear answers on why Pakistani or Iranian aircraft were in Pakistan. Does that strike you again as being weird, strange?

[00:24:11]I'm not able to speak to that cogently.

[00:24:13]What I can exp what I can discuss cogently is that back in the original the 1990 Gulf War, we saw Kuwaiti jets fly to Saudi Arabia and we also saw Iraqi jets being to Iran. So this does have some historical precedent and practice uh in that region. However, I would like to say that Saudi Arabia was not attempting to make itself some incredible third, you know, party completely neutral uh mediator. We knew exactly where they stood. We knew that they were aligned with the United States and with our interest. And so having Kuwaiti jets and having uh Iraqi jets in Iran all really made sense and everybody understood what was going on. At this point, Pakistan is losing a lot of credibility as being a uh mediator and being able to say, you know, we are really invested in getting all of the parties everything that they want because they and they have been uh flying Awax and also military jet patrols along the Persian Gulf uh protecting Iran and serving as a trip wire, >> right? Uh so again you know we're just continuing to see the same pattern of Pakistan really leaning heavily in the direction in this issue.

[00:25:39]>> Let me say final words >> Dr. Khan. Uh as you take that final word I'd just like to point out the Pakistani government statement doesn't deny the presence of Iranian aircraft on Pakistani soil and yet you believe that it's all fabricated.

[00:25:53]>> No they have denied the claims. I think you need to read the complete statement by the Pakistan government. I've read the statement. We we in fact we showed a picture of it.

[00:26:02]>> Yes. Yes. That's what I'm saying. I mean uh you don't have the time to read. You can read it and and the statement is very clear from the government of Pakistan that these denies claims you're saying on the screen as well. The only >> this does not deny this does not deny the presence of Iranian aircraft on Pakistani soil. It says that the intentions of the original CBS report are wrong.

[00:26:25]>> Okay. You are taking the things in different way. I am just >> No sir, it's in simple English. We both understand it.

[00:26:30]>> Okay. Okay. I am I am just explaining one thing and that is Pakistan's efforts to bring the peace should not be sabotage by a Jewish lobby or by Indian lobbyist. It should it is about the peace of the world and Pakistan's efforts are seen and appreciated across the globe. And if anybody can mediate in such a fragile situation, it is only Pakistan. 100% that's great sir and we hope that Pakistan is entirely successful but my point is >> right no no sir I I one hopes that Pakistan is successful we all want the war to end but I think the point that we are raising is uh is is something somewhat different look we're out of time on this program I'd like to thank all of you very much for being with us for the moment from all of us here on the left right and center team good