ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan
expelled the Iranian
ambassador
and recalled its
envoy
from Tehran on Wednesday after
Iran
carried out missile and drone strikes on alleged terror bases in Pakistani territory on Tuesday, moves that could inflame an already very tense situation in the West Asia region. The attack was the deepest Iranian strike inside Pakistani territory.
The airstrikes in Panjgur, in Pakistan’s restive border district with Iran in southwestern Baluchistan province, Tehran said, were aimed at the armed group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), an ethnic Baloch Sunni Muslim armed group operating on both sides of the border.
Pakistan shares a 900-km border with Iran.
Pakistan said it reserved the right to respond to this “illegal act” and warned it could “have serious consequences” the responsibility for which would lie squarely with Iran. In a statement issued late on Tuesday night, Islamabad strongly protested the “violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty”, calling it “completely unacceptable”.
The strikes occurred at a time of growing tension across the Middle East in the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza and followed back-to back Iranian missile attacks on targets in Iraq and Syria earlier this week.
Since the war in the Gaza Strip began in October, Iran has used its proxy forces against Israel and its allies. But Tuesday, it said its latest missile strikes had been in response to terrorist attacks within its borders, NYT reported. The missile strikes, nevertheless, raised tensions in a region where conflict has now touched at least five nations. “They are contributing to the escalation of regional tensions — and it must stop,” Catherine Colonna, France’s minister for Europe and foreign affairs, said after the strike on Iraq. Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, also denounced the strike on Iraq, NYT reported.
Iran defence minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani was quoted by NYT as saying on Wednesday that his country would “not set any limits” on using its missile capabilities against enemies whenever necessary. “We are a missile power in the world,” Ashtiani told reporters at a Cabinet meeting, according to state media. “Wherever they want to threaten the Islamic Republic of Iran, we will react, and this reaction will definitely be proportionate, tough and decisive.”
China, meanwhile, urged Pakistan and Iran to show “restraint” and “avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension”. Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning added that Beijing saw the countries as “close neighbours” and “major Islamic countries”.
Analysts told NYT that Iran is walking a fine line, hoping to flex its strength to show conservative supporters of the government at home that it can hit its enemies — without getting directly entangled in a fight with Israel, the US or their allies.
Later on Wednesday, a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was shot dead in the country's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said. "Attempts to identify and pursue the perpetrators are underway," IRNA added.
Iran and Pakistan have been accusing one another for years of harbouring militant groups that carry out attacks on the other in their border areas. “We have conveyed to the government of Iran that Pakistan has decided to recall its ambassador from Iran and that the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, who is currently visiting Iran, may not return for the time being,” Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch said in Islamabad. All high-level visits which were ongoing or were planned between the two countries have been suspended, she said.
While the Pakistan foreign office did not mention the exact location of the incident, Iranian state media reported the focal point of this operation was the Sabz-koh (green mountain) village in
Balochistan
. “Two key strongholds of the Jaysh al-Dhulm (Jaish al-Adl) terrorist group in Pakistan” were “specifically targeted and successfully demolished by a combination of missile and drone attacks”, Iranian media reported, adding the attack destroyed the Pakistani headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl.
Islamabad said the attackskilled two children and injured three girls. Reports from the area suggested that a missile hit a mosque, partially damaging it and injuring some people. “A strong protest has already been lodged with the concerned senior official in the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs in Tehran,” the handout read, stating the Iranian charge d’affaires has been called to the foreign office to convey its strongest condemnation of the incident.
The attack, Islamabad said, took place “despite the existence of several channels of communication”. Speaking in Davos, Iran foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian insisted that no Pakistani citizens had been targeted. “We only targeted Iranian terrorists on the soil of Pakistan,” Mr Amir-Abdollahian said. He added that he had spoken to his Pakistani counterpart and “assured him that we do respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan and Iraq”.
English (US) ·