US once asked Iran to save Pakistan from India, which was on verge of destruction due to..., here's what Tehran did

The United States has struck Iran's key nuclear sites -- Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan -- in what is being viewed as a major escalation to the long-standing conflict in middle-east. This leaves us compelled to revisit the past friendship between Iran and the US, more specifically, when Washington wanted Iran to help Pakistan during the 1971 war with India. 

According to a report by The Indian Express, declassified US State Department documents include minutes of a meeting held in Washington on December 9, 1971 -- the time when India-Pakistan war was at its peak. Chaired by Henry Kissinger, then national security advisor to US President Richard Nixon, the meeting saw officials scratching their heads over the lack of fuel reserves in West Pakistan. They were fretting over the fact that Islamabad soon could be taken down by New Delhi as its major fuel reserves had been destroyed by Indian strikes. 

Next, Kissinger asked the officials if fuel supplies could be rushed from Iran to Pakistan so that West Pakistan could be saved from being captured by India. By then, New Delhi had already conquered East Pakistan (today's Bangladesh), successfully separating it from West Pakistan (today's Pakistan). 

Meanwhile, in the same meeting, discussions were also held on supplying Pakistan with fighter aircraft from Iran and seeking China to make threaten India, the report suggested. 

CIA Director Richard Helms told the officials that he had received a report from Karachi, suggesting the oil tanks there had been hit again, in the 12th or 13th air raid, and that six or eight of them had been burning. "An ESSO representative has indicated that this means the loss of 50 per cent of Karachi’s oil reserves, which amounts to over 80% of the POL [petrol, oil, lubricants] for all of Pakistan. He estimates that they are left with a two-week supply, possibly less at the rate at which POL is now being consumed,” he said.

As per the report, Kissinger asked the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas H Moorer for his estimate of the military situation of Pakistan. Moorer clearly said that in East Pakistan, it was a matter of time until the Pak army would be left totally ineffective. “Their supplies are cut off and they have no air left. Any serious fighting could be over in ten days or two weeks, depending on whether the Paks continue to fight to the last man or whether they begin to surrender in large numbers, which does not seem to be in the cards now,” he said.

The admiral said that Pakistanis can operate about three weeks or so, highlighting that the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had clarified her intention to "destroy the Pak military force". "However, if there is a period of attrition, with no ceasefire, the Indians can hold out longer and the Paks have had it. Mrs. Gandhi has stated that her objective is to destroy the Pak military forces,” he said.

What did Iran say?

A senior US embassy official met with the Shah of Iran in Tehran on December 8, 1971, seeking to discuss the possibility of Iranian military support for Pakistan. The Shah told him that he had informed the Pakistani ambassador in Tehran that, given Indian and the Soviet Union had signed a friendship treaty, he could not help Pakistan with military support. The Shah stated that he wasn't ready to risk confrontation with the Soviet Union.

Pertinent to note that former PM Indira Gandhi had signed a treaty with the Soviet Union, under which, the latter was to support India in its standoff with Pak. 

However, the Shah suggested an alternative, appealing to the US to urge King Hussein to send Jordanian F-104 fighters to Pakistan. Here, the Shah in turn would send two squadrons of Iranian aircraft to Jordan to defend it while Jordanian planes and pilots were deployed in Islamabad. 

However, it couldn't happen due to legal restrictions.