The Pakistan's Foreign Ministry confirmed the attacks against positions of suspected terrorist groups in Sistan and Balochistan province, in south-eastern Iranwhere I am at least seven people died, including four children. Islamabad had promised to respond to Tuesday's Iranian attacks against another terrorist group in Pakistan's Balochistan region, which borders the aforementioned Iranian province.
“This morning, Pakistan carried out a series of highly coordinated and targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Iran's Sistan and Balochistan province,” the ministry wrote on its website. Furthermore, the deaths of “several terrorists” were confirmed during an intelligence operation called “Marg Bar Sarmachar”, which sought to neutralize the self-proclaimed “Sarmachars” group, considered terrorists by Islamabad.
For his part, the deputy governor of Sistan and Balochistan, Alireza Marhamati, reported an explosion near the city of Saravan at 4.30 am (local time) in which three women and four children died. These are Iranian citizens, as specified by the Iranian news agency IRNA. Pakistan justified this bombing with Iran's “lack of action” in the face of its “serious concerns” about the amount of evidence about the presence of Pakistani terrorists on Iranian territory. “This action is a manifestation of Pakistan's unshakable determination to protect and defend its national security against all threats. Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The sole objective of the act today was the pursuit of one's own security and national interest,” read the Islamabad statement.
The specter of expanded war in the Middle East
The tension between Iran and Pakistan is in the spotlight. Islamabad has recalled its ambassador to Iran following the “unjustified violation” of its airspace by Tehran and has decided not to allow “for the moment” the return to Islamabad of the Iranian ambassador, who is currently in the Islamic Republic . This was stated by the spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad, Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch, in the aftermath of the Iranian attack with drones and missiles which targeted two bases of the Sunni separatist group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan, which claimed responsibility several attacks in the south-east of the Islamic Republic.
“Pakistan reserves the right to respond to this illegal act and responsibility for the consequences will fall directly on Iran,” the spokeswoman said during a press briefing, specifying that the Pakistani authorities have “conveyed this message to the Iranian government.” Baloch also added that Islamabad has suspended all ongoing or planned high-level visits between Pakistan and Iran. “Our missiles and drones did not target any of the citizens of the friendly and brotherly country of Pakistan. Our target was the terrorist group Jaish-al-Adl, which is based on the Iran-Pakistan border”, he declared for his part Tehran's Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in his speech at the Davos forum.
Tehran's Foreign Minister spoke on the phone with his Islamabad colleague, Jalil Abbas Jilani, and, Iranian media report, confirmed to his counterpart that Iran's security has been repeatedly threatened by Jaish al-Adl, underlining that the Islamic Republic “respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan”.
Meanwhile, a colonel of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Ali Javadanfar, was killed in a “terrorist” attack in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan. The Tasnim news agency reported this, specifying that the colonel was shot dead on the Khash-Zahedan road.
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