US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was not reconsidering Pakistan's role as mediator in the Iran conflict, after one of his close Republican allies said he did not trust Islamabad.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a close confidant of Mr Trump, had earlier referenced a CBS News report that said Pakistan allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields, protecting them from US air strikes.
Pakistan says that both the US and Iran had parked aircraft in Islamabad to help with logistics in the run-up to ceasefire talks. Some planes remained in anticipation of further negotiations but these were not there under any "preservation arrangement", Islamabad said.
"I don't trust Pakistan as far as I can throw them," Mr Graham told a Senate Appropriations Committee's defence subcommittee.
"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."
But hours later, Mr Trump appeared to brush off a question about whether the US should reconsider Pakistan's mediation role.
"No, they're great," he told reporters. "I think the Pakistanis have been great. The Field Marshal [Asim Munir] and the Prime Minister of Pakistan [Shehbaz Sharif] have been absolutely great."
Pakistan's embassy in Washington referred questions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said the Iranian aircraft currently parked in Pakistan arrived during the ceasefire period and bore "no linkage whatsoever to any military contingency or preservation arrangement."
"Assertions suggesting otherwise are speculative, misleading, and entirely detached from the factual context," the ministry said in a statement.
Quoting anonymous US officials, CBS had reported that days after Mr Trump announced the ceasefire on April 7, Iran sent several aircraft to Pakistan's Nur Khan Air Force Base near the city of Rawalpindi.
"No wonder this damn thing is going nowhere," Mr Graham said as he grilled Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Dan Caine over the defence budget. The two officials declined to publicly comment on the matter.
In a post on X on Monday, Mr Graham said that if the report were true, it would necessitate "a complete re-evaluation of the role Pakistan is playing".
"Given some of the prior statements by Pakistani defence officials towards Israel, I would not be shocked if this were true," he said.
Pakistan has been mediating discussions between Iran and the US over a permanent end to the war, though talks have stalled. Mr Trump has praised Pakistan for its commitment.
As he spoke before the Senate defence subcommittee, Mr Graham also claimed China had "the most influence of ending this war, if they chose to".
"President Trump, when you go to China, realise that the person you're talking to is propping up Russia and Iran," he said. Mr Trump is en route to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"I appreciate all you've done," Mr Graham told Gen Caine and Mr Hegseth," I'm very supportive of it, but when it comes to Pakistan and China, enough already."
