diff --git a/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/ctl/cli_config.py b/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/ctl/cli_config.py
index 899067d341040..c00003632aa97 100755
--- a/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/ctl/cli_config.py
+++ b/airflow-ctl/src/airflowctl/ctl/cli_config.py
@@ -209,6 +209,16 @@ def json_dict_type(val: str | dict[str, Any]) -> dict[str, Any]:
     return parsed
 
 
+def iso_datetime_type(val: str | datetime.datetime) -> datetime.datetime:
+    """Parse an ISO-8601 datetime argument."""
+    if isinstance(val, datetime.datetime):
+        return val
+    try:
+        return datetime.datetime.fromisoformat(val)
+    except ValueError as e:
+        raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError(f"invalid datetime value: {val!r}") from e
+
+
 def _load_help_texts_yaml() -> dict[str, dict[str, str]]:
     """Load the help texts yaml for the auto-generated commands."""
     help_texts_path = Path(__file__).parent / "help_texts.yaml"
@@ -566,7 +576,7 @@ def _python_type_from_string(type_name: str | type) -> type | Callable:
             "dict": json_dict_type,
             "tuple": tuple,
             "set": set,
-            "datetime.datetime": datetime.datetime,
+            "datetime.datetime": iso_datetime_type,
             "dict[str, typing.Any]": json_dict_type,
         }
         # Default to ``str`` to preserve previous behaviour for any unrecognised
diff --git a/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/ctl/test_cli_config.py b/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/ctl/test_cli_config.py
index d568cacc0981c..3e389eb7b7ccc 100644
--- a/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/ctl/test_cli_config.py
+++ b/airflow-ctl/tests/airflow_ctl/ctl/test_cli_config.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
     CommandFactory,
     GroupCommand,
     add_auth_token_to_all_commands,
+    iso_datetime_type,
     json_dict_type,
     merge_commands,
     safe_call_command,
@@ -364,6 +365,37 @@ def test_json_dict_type_rejects_non_object_json(self, value):
         with pytest.raises(argparse.ArgumentTypeError, match="expected JSON object"):
             json_dict_type(value)
 
+    def test_iso_datetime_type_returns_datetime_input_unchanged(self):
+        """A datetime.datetime input is returned as-is without re-parsing."""
+        import datetime
+
+        value = datetime.datetime(2026, 7, 1, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)
+
+        assert iso_datetime_type(value) is value
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        ("value", "expected"),
+        [
+            ("2026-07-01", "2026-07-01T00:00:00"),
+            ("2026-07-01T00:00:00", "2026-07-01T00:00:00"),
+            ("2026-07-01T12:34:56+00:00", "2026-07-01T12:34:56+00:00"),
+        ],
+    )
+    def test_iso_datetime_type_parses_iso_string(self, value, expected):
+        """An ISO-8601 datetime string (date-only or full) is parsed into a datetime.
+
+        Regression test for https://github.com/apache/airflow/issues/70232: previously the
+        bare ``datetime.datetime`` class was used as the argparse ``type=`` callable, so
+        argparse called ``datetime.datetime(value)`` on the raw string, which always raised
+        a ``TypeError`` regardless of the input.
+        """
+        assert iso_datetime_type(value).isoformat() == expected
+
+    def test_iso_datetime_type_rejects_invalid_value(self):
+        """A non-parseable string raises an ArgumentTypeError."""
+        with pytest.raises(argparse.ArgumentTypeError, match="invalid datetime value"):
+            iso_datetime_type("not-a-date")
+
     def test_command_factory_required_primitive_param_is_positional(self, tmp_path):
         """Required primitive parameters (no default, not Optional) become positional arguments.