<b>I fully confirm the views of mudy . During the 1965 India Pakistan conflict, it was widely speculated in knowledgeable circles that Iran allowed some F-86 aircrafts of its air force to be transferred to PAF for use under PAF marking on actions against India after PAF suffered heavy losses in the initial days of the conflict . In the face of heavy aerial bombardment by the IAF over various military targets in Pakistan, Iran had allowed Pakistan to use some of its airfields for parking of aircrafts particularly during the daytime. It was also alleged that Pakistan provided ammunition and spares to the Pakistan armed forces, when it came under US sanction as a result of the hostilities. The most glaring example of Iran's support for Pakistan came in the form of Iran stopping the supply of Light Arabian Crude to the oil refineries belonging to Standard Vacuum and Burma Shell located in Bombay, which resulted in serious shortage of Aviation Turbine Fuel in India. This was part of a grand Iranian plan to get the aircrafts of the Indian Air Force grounded for lack of fuel. Incidentally, at that point of time India had only three major oil refineries, two in Bombay and one in Madras. Both the refineries in Bombay were designed to refine Iranian Light Arabian Crude. The Iranian action was perhaps expected as it was an important and active member of the CENTO military alliance along with Pakistan and Turkey.
During the 1971 India Pakistan conflict also Iran openly sided with Pakistan and was extremely critical of India and Indiaâs diplomatic moves. I do not off hand recollect the specifics of Iranian actions at that time off hand. The so- called friendship between post independent India and Iran is of very recent vintage, fueled by Indiaâs desire to increase its exports particularly of non traditional goods and services. Today certain political parties are trying to run down the Government on its stand on the Iran nuclear issue as a means of an effective tool to win over the Muslim vote bank in India rather than due to any great service rendered by Iran to India in safeguarding our nationâs sovereignty and territorial integrity.</b>
During the 1971 India Pakistan conflict also Iran openly sided with Pakistan and was extremely critical of India and Indiaâs diplomatic moves. I do not off hand recollect the specifics of Iranian actions at that time off hand. The so- called friendship between post independent India and Iran is of very recent vintage, fueled by Indiaâs desire to increase its exports particularly of non traditional goods and services. Today certain political parties are trying to run down the Government on its stand on the Iran nuclear issue as a means of an effective tool to win over the Muslim vote bank in India rather than due to any great service rendered by Iran to India in safeguarding our nationâs sovereignty and territorial integrity.</b>