Pakistan has allowed Iranian military aircraft to park at its airfields, potentially shielding them from U.S. airstrikes, while also serving as a diplomatic intermediary between Washington and Tehran, according to CBS News citing U.S. officials.

Sources cited by the news outlet said that after President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire with Iran in early April, Tehran sent multiple aircraft to Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan, a strategically important military installation located just outside the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Among the aircraft was an Iranian Air Force RC-130, a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, the officials said.

Iran also sent civilian aircraft to Afghanistan, though it was not clear whether any military aircraft were included in those movements.

A senior Pakistani official rejected the allegations, telling CBS News, that “Nur Khan base is right in the heart of [the] city, a large fleet of aircrafts parked there can’t be hidden from [the] public eye.”

Afghan civil aviation authorities also disputed reports. 

An Afghan aviation officer told CBS News that an Iranian civilian aircraft operated by Mahan Air landed in Kabul shortly before the conflict began and remained there after Iranian airspace was closed. The aircraft was later moved to Herat Airport near the Iranian border, reportedly for protection during Pakistani air operations in Kabul.

According to the officer, this was the only Iranian aircraft left in Afghanistan.

Taliban officials however denied the presence of Iranian aircraft in the country. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the news outlet: “No, that’s not true and Iran doesn’t need to do that.”

The Pentagon refused to comment on the report.