Washington/Islamabad, May 12 -- While Pakistan was diplomatically shaking hands with Washington as a peacemaker, Iranian military jets were quietly touching down on its soil, thus shielded from American airstrikes, a report that has now blown up Islamabad's carefully crafted image of neutrality.
Iran also sent civilian aircraft to park in neighbouring Afghanistan. It was not clear if military aircraft were among those flights, CBS news reported, citing US officials with knowledge of the matter.
Together, the movements reflected an apparent effort to insulate some of Iran's remaining military and aviation assets from the expanding conflict, even as officials publicly served as brokers for de-escalation.
The US officials, who all spoke onl...