Why Pakistan Deployed Fighter Jets to the Middle East Before US-Iran Talks
This weekend, all eyes will remain on Islamabad as it hosts the most significant diplomatic meeting in recent years. They talk in the middle of Iran and the US to end the war.
The eyes of the world are set on Islamabad. On Saturday, the country will host the high-stakes US-Iran peace talks; Pakistan seems to be taking no options. The tension is quite high in the Middle East, despite the two-week ceasefire. The Pakistan role in the Middle East crisis is a serious task - to save the aircraft of the Iranian delegation from any Israeli "misadventures". It has ended in one of the biggest Pakistan Air Force peacetime operations, with Islamabad scrambling fighter jets, refuelling tankers, C-130 transport aircraft, and AWACS to the Middle East.
The range of the air shield, dubbed by some professionals as an "Iron escort", underlines the massive pressure Pakistan is under as it hosts the most important diplomatic meeting in the last few years. On April 8, Pakistan, with support from China, attempted to broker a ceasefire between the US and Iran. It can halt for a month of fighting that killed over 2,000 in Tehran. Pakistan now requires a permanent end to the difference.
However, it has left no stone unturned. Pakistan evidently knows its global profile is at stake. Different from the lockdown parts of Islamabad, Pakistan has activated its air defence systems in its western and southern airspaces.
Pakistani minister Mohsin Naqvi told The Dawn, "A comprehensive plan has been prepared to provide foolproof security to all foreign guests".
US Vice President JD Vance, who is at the top of the American delegation, was previously on the way to Islamabad. From the Iranian side, Iran US negotiations tension is expected to be led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf.
