Why Pakistan launched ‘air armada’ to the middle east ahead of US-Iran ceasefire talks 

As per statements made by Pakistan’s cabinet ministers to the DAWN, Pakistan launched this air armada to the middle east, in an effort to provide an ‘iron escort’ to the Iranian aircraft against any possible Israeli attacks.

Notably, Pakistan’s deployment of fighter jets to the middle east comes after Islamabad’s  Defence Minister Khawaja Asif  labelled Israel a “curse for humanity,” drawing a fiery “outrageous” rebuke from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

While Asif eventually deleted the post, the damage to Pakistan’s ‘reputation’ as a mediator was already done. Following the controversy, multiple members of the Israeli government and analysts questioned Pakistan’s ‘intentions’ and ‘bias’ for holding the talks.

The Armada: Muscle in the skies

Pakistan isn’t just sending a greeting party; it has deployed a full-spectrum air shield to protect the Iranian delegation from potential “misadventures” or sabotage, specifically eyeing Israeli interference. 

Flight tracking data shows Pakistani fighter jets, JF-17 Thunder and F-16s, near the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. The jets will escort the aircraft carrying the Iranian delegation as it begins its journey to Islamabad, which takes around three hours.

Besides, the PAF has also deployed IL-78 refuelling tankers, which allow fighter jets to stay longer in the air. Pakistan has also deployed C-130 Hercules aircraft, likely for logistics and support.

Furthermore, the deployment isn’t confined to Iranian airspace. Flight tracking data indicates PAF assets are operating near the UAE and Saudi Arabia. As per analysts interviewed by agencies, the scale of Pakistan’s deployment is unusual for peacetime and signals how seriously Pakistan is taking the optics of hosting the talks.

A shortlist of aircrafts and defence based vessels deployed by Pakistan as visible from tracking data has been mentioned below.

What’s at stake?

If these talks proceed on Saturday, they will mark the highest-level face-to-face meeting between the US and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Pakistan, with significant backing from China, brokered the initial ceasefire on April 8 after a month of conflict that claimed over 2,000 lives in Tehran.

However, shortly after the news of the ‘ceasefire agreement’ was broken, reports of fresh attacks on key infrastructure in Iran, Saudi Pipelines and UAE had emerged. These attacks signalled that while Pakistan and China had gotten the warring nations to sign an agreement. The terms of the ceasefire had not been strictly defined for both sides.

This fact became more abundantly clear on Wednesday when Israel launched a brutal military campaign against Lebanon resulting in the death of more than 300 individuals including schoolgirls. 

While Israel maintained that the strikes were meant to dismantle the ‘terror breeding Hezbollah’, analysts observed that this was the same vocabulary that the Israeli government had used to decimate the people of Gaza.

The Lebanon fault line

Despite the military pageantry, the summit is currently shadowed by “last-minute hiccups”. While Pakistan and Iran maintain that the ceasefire agreement included a provision calling for a halt to attacks in Lebanon; the US and Israel have outrightly rejected this claim. 

As the attention of the world shifts to Pakistan for potential peace talks, US Vice President JD Vance has reportedly already departed from Washington alongside the American delegation to the talks. 

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have yet to leave for Islamabad, citing uncertainty over the continued attacks on their proxy in Lebanon.

“The continuation of the attacks in Lebanon has created uncertainty about the talks,” an Iranian official stated, leaving the world wondering if the “Iron Escort” will have a delegation to protect at all.