Washington DC [US], May 12 : Pakistan appears to be running with the hare and hunting with the hound as it tries to continuously pitch itself as a mediator in the ongoing West Asia conflict.
However, Pakistan's template of playing both sides of the fence appear to have drawn distrust within the US administration as US President Donald Trump rejected the Iranian response to his peace overture. The Iranian response was conveyed to DC by the Pakistani side which had also played host to the round of dialogue between Iran and the US.
According to a CNN report, some people close to Trump have raised concerns over Pakistan's role as a mediator between Washington and Tehran.
CNN reported that, the US administration is questioning whether the Pakistani side has been conveying President Trump's 'displeasure' on the state of the peace process. It further reported that some officials also believe Pakistan has been sharing a more positive version of the Iranian position with the US than the reality.
Meanwhile, CBS reported further proof of Pakistan's dangerous double game stating that Pakistan had quietly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields, possibly shielding them from American airstrikes, even as it positioned itself as a mediator.
Citing two US officials CBS News reported that while Iran also sent civilian aircraft to be parked in Afghanistan, it was not clear if military aircraft were among those flights.
The US officials speaking on anonymity told CBS News that days after Trump had announced the ceasefire with Iran in early April, Tehran sent multiple aircraft to Pakistan's Nur Khan Air Base. Among the military hardware was an Iranian Air Force RC-130, a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules tactical transport aircraft.
All of this has led to major distrust in the US administration which strongly believes that Pakistan is not pushing the proper position of the US administration with Iran prompting divergent opinions from the Islamic regime.
Proof lies in the differences in public postures being made by the Iranian side vis-a-vis what US officials have been saying about the peace talks. Evidence of that was seen in the tone of the statement made by the Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday.
Speaking about Iran's future course, the Iranian President said Tehran had several options ahead of it.
"We now have various options; either we enter into negotiations with dignity, authority, and preservation of national interests and realise the rights of the Iranian nation, or we remain in a state of neither war nor peace, or we continue the path of war and confrontation," Pezeshkian said.
The Iranian President said Tehran's preference was for diplomacy backed by military strength and national interests.
"The rational, logical, and national interest-based preference is that the victory achieved by the armed forces on the battlefield is also completed in the field of diplomacy and the rights of the Iranian nation are established from a position of dignity and authority," he said.
In response the US President declared that the ceasefire that currently exists between Iran and the US is now on 'life support.'
Discarding Iran's proposal Trump said that Iran is the weakest it has been and called Tehran's proposal "a piece of garbage" and unacceptable.
He said, "After reading that piece of garbage they sent us, I didn't even finish reading it. They (Iran) are on life support. The ceasefire is on massive life support."
Reiterating his claims that Iran has been defeated militarily, Trump said that whatever little Iran had built up in the period of ceasefire, the US would "knock that out in about a day".
With Trump now headed to Beijing for a key meeting with President Xi Jinping, there is a strong likelihood of China emerging as a key player in ensuring that peace prevails in West Asia.
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