Pakistan Jets Escort Iran Negotiators From US Peace Talks
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- Pakistan's air force deployed approximately two dozen fighter jets plus an AWACS surveillance aircraft to escort the Iranian delegation out of Pakistani airspace, with one source calling it a 'massive operational mission' that put Pakistani pilots in direct responsibility for the visitors' safety.
- The Iranian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, raised the 'hypothetical' possibility of an Israeli strike against their aircraft after the talks collapsed, prompting Pakistan to insist on providing the air cover.
- Israel had Araqchi and Qalibaf on its strike list until Pakistan asked Washington to intervene and have the names removed, on the rationale that there would be 'no one left to negotiate' on the war the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28.
- The escort used Chinese-made J-10 aircraft, described by one Pakistani official as the top jet in the air force fleet, and dropped the delegation 'all the way to Tehran' though it declined to say where exactly they landed.
- The Islamabad talks were the highest-level engagement between Iran and the U.S. since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with the U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance; both sides left empty-handed, though sources told Reuters dialogue was still alive.
- President Trump said Thursday the war 'should be ending pretty soon' and that another round of talks could take place in Islamabad as soon as this weekend, with a Pakistani source confirming security planning was already underway.
Why it matters: The escort reveals how Israel's assassination threats had effectively narrowed Iran's negotiating channel to just two figures — Araqchi and Qalibaf — and that Pakistan had to lobby Washington to keep them alive. For the U.S. diplomatic effort, that means every future round of talks now requires combat-aircraft cover and explicit Israeli de-targeting, turning a negotiating track into a military-protection operation before talks can even resume.
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