Iran admits carrying out deadly strike on Pakistan territory
Iran has acknowledged carrying out a missile and drone strike on western Pakistan on Tuesday. According to officials in Islamabad, two children lost their lives, and three others sustained injuries in the Balochistan attack.
Iran’s foreign minister stated that the operation was aimed at the militant group Jaish al-Adli, characterized as an “Iranian terrorist group” in Pakistan.
In response, Pakistan’s government withdrew its ambassador to Iran and prevented Tehran’s envoy from returning. This attack follows Iran’s recent strikes in Iraq and Syria. Islamabad condemned the assault as “illegal” with a warning of “serious consequences.”
Nonetheless, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, speaking from Davos, emphasized that only members of Jaish al-Adl were targeted, not Pakistani citizens. He assured Pakistan of respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
This airstrike occurs amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, including the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Despite asserting a desire to avoid broader conflict, Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” allies have targeted Israel and its allies.
The US and UK conducted airstrikes on Houthi militants in Yemen after attacks on commercial shipping. China urged Pakistan and Iran to exercise restraint to prevent tension escalation, emphasizing their status as “close neighbors.”
Iran’s recent actions may reflect a desire to retaliate against perceived perpetrators amid heightened regional tensions, demonstrating strength to its population and signaling that acts of violence will not go unanswered.
The strike in Pakistan targeted Jaish al-Adl, an ethnic Baloch Sunni Muslim group known for attacks inside Iran and against Pakistani government forces.
Last December Jaish al-Adl attacked a police station in Rask, a town close to the border with Pakistan.
Two weeks ago Iran suffered its worst domestic attack since the Islamic Revolution, when two bombs killed 84 people at a ceremony in Kerman to commemorate the US assassination of Iran’s notorious Revolutionary Guard general, Qasem Soleimani.
On Monday, Iran fired ballistic missiles at Syria and Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. Iran said it was targeting Islamic State and Israel’s Mossad spy agency, both of whom it said had been involved in the Kerman bombings.
The strike on Iraq hit a building in the northern city of Irbil. Four civilians were killed and six hurt in the attack, local authorities said. The US condemned the attack.
Iran then struck Syria’s north-western Idlib province, which is the last remaining opposition stronghold in the country and home to 2.9 million displaced people.
But hitting its nuclear-armed eastern neighbor Pakistan is a dramatic escalation. Pakistan expressed outrage, saying the attack took place “despite the existence of several channels of communication” between the countries.
On Wednesday Islamabad said it had recalled its ambassador to Iran and the Iranian ambassador would not be allowed back into the country for the time being.
Pakistan and Iran have a delicate but cordial relationship. This attack took place on the same day as Pakistan’s prime minister and Iran’s foreign minister met in Davos and while the Iranian and Pakistan navies held military drills together in the Gulf.
Yet both have accused one another of harboring militant groups that carry out attacks on the other in their border areas for years.
Security on either side of their shared border, which runs for about 900km (559 miles), has been a long-running concern for both governments.
The Iranian strike is believed to have hit Sabz Koh village about 45km from the Iranian border and 90km from the nearest town Panjgur. Local officials described it as a sparsely populated area home to livestock-owning Baloch tribes where smuggling of goods, drugs, and weapons is rife.
“People on both sides of the border consider themselves to be deprived of necessities, face discrimination, and demand a larger share of their resources,” security commentator Zaigham Khan told the BBC.
In Iran, the Sunni Muslim Baloch minority complains of discrimination in the Shia Muslim-majority state, while Baloch separatist groups are continuing an insurgent movement against the Pakistani government.
Jaish al-Adl is the “most active and influential” Sunni militant group operating in Sistan-Baluchestan, according to the office of the US Director of National Intelligence. It is designated as a terrorist group by Washington and Tehran.
Another security commentator in Pakistan, Aamir Rana, told the BBC he thought the diplomatic crisis “would take a while to calm down but this is also something that Pakistan would not like to escalate”.
He said in the past Pakistan had not reacted to Iran’s actions along the border – “but now the ball is in Iran’s court, whether it wants to get its act right”.