Lindsey Graham questioned Pakistan’s credibility as a mediator in US-Iran talks after reports linked Islamabad to Iranian military aircraft activity.
Casting shadow over the ongoing mediation between US and Iran, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday called for rejecting Pakistan as the mediator for talks in West Asia and declared that he doesn’t “trust” Islamabad, suggesting that Washington should look for an alternative mediator in order to have truce with Iran.
During a hearing of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the Iran war and the defence budget, Graham expressed his anguish over the deadlock in peace talks between Washington and Tehran.
The Republican senator’s remarks come from an earlier CBS News report which cited US officials and stated that Pakistan allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields such as Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan amid the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.
Responding to CBS News report, Graham said, “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.”
Graham had asked US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, during the Senate hearing, whether or not Iranian aircraft allegedly allowed in Pakistan is “consistent with [Islamabad] being a fair mediator.” Hegseth responded saying he didn’t want to get in the middle of negotiations.
The CBS News report claimed that Iran sent several aircrafts, including a surveillance variant of the Lockheed C-130, to Pakistan’s Nur Khan airbase near Rawalpindi.
However, a Pakistani official denied the viral claims and told CBS News, “Nur Khan base is right in the heart of the city, a large fleet of aircraft parked there can’t be hidden from public eye.”
Reacting to the report, Senator Graham had earlier said Washington may have to “reevaluate” Pakistan’s role as mediator between US, Iran and other parties.
