Pakistan recalled its ambassador from Tehran on Wednesday and strongly denounced the Iranian attack as a “blatant violation” of its airspace, which its said it killed two children in the border region of Balochistan.
Iran launched airstrikes on Pakistan that it claimed targeted bases for a militant group Jaish al-Adl. Iran also attacked targets in Iraq and Syria within few hours.
Pakistan recalls ambassador from Iran
“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,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters in a briefing on January 17, 2024. “We have also decided to suspend all high level visits which were ongoing or were planned between Pakistan and Iran in coming days.”
This development comes a day after Pakistan said Iran had violated its airspace and attacked a border village, killing two children and injuring three girls.
Pakistan strongly condemned the “unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran and the strike inside Pakistani territory which resulted in death of two innocent children while injuring three girls,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in an initial statement.
The Iranian strike is believed to have hit Sabz Koh (green mountain) village about 45km from the Iranian border and 90km from the nearest town Panjgur. Pakistan did not mention the location of the incident in its official media release.
Within 24 hours, Iran launched missile and drone strikes on three countries — Iraq, Syria and Pakistan — defending the attacks saying that these were “in line with combating terrorism and legitimate self-defense.”
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry called the attacks a “violation of international law” and recalled its ambassador to Iran after the Monday night attack on its northern semi-autonomous Kurdistan region killed four civilians and injured at least six.
Iran says it targeted ‘Iranian terrorist group’
Iran’s foreign minister claimed that his country’s armed forces targeted an “Iranian terrorist group” in Pakistan. “None of the nationals of the friendly and brotherly country of Pakistan were targeted by Iranian missiles and drones,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“The so-called Jaish Al-Adl group, which is an Iranian terrorist group, was targeted,” he added.
Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar met Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the Davos Forum a few hours before the strike that strained ties between the two neighbors.
The reports of the attacks were first published by Iranian media Nournews, affiliated with the country’s top security body, saying Iran had attacked militant bases in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. The target of the attack was allegedly the Jaish Al-Adl militant group.
Jaish al-Adl (Jaish al-Dhulm) is the “most active and influential” Sunni militant group operating in Sistan-Baluchestan, according to the US Director of National Intelligence. It is designated as a terrorist group by Washington and Tehran.
Pakistan warns of consequences
Pakistan said Iran’s attack was a violation of international law, calling it “completely unacceptable.”
“This illegal act is completely unacceptable and has no justification whatsoever,” it said in a statement. “Pakistan reserves the right to respond to this illegal act. The responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran,” the Foreign Office statement reads.
Muhammad Ashfaque Arain, a former air marshal in the Pakistani Air Force, called the Iranian strike “a very serious development.” However, “The fact that there is no elected government [in Pakistan] complicates the response,” he told New York Times.
Pakistan and Iran, who share a 950-km (559-mile) long border, have had rocky relations, but the strikes are the highest-profile cross-border intrusion in recent years.
With the Iranian strike in Pakistani territory, the South Asian country is now confronting troubled relations with three of its neighbors. While India has long been a long-time adversary, Pakistan’s ties with Afghanistan have also soured in recent months following militant attacks from Afghanistan-based terrorists.
Iranian attacks and regional tensions
The missile and drones strikes in Pakistan came within 24 hours of the Iranian missile strikes in Syria and Iraq. These airstrikes are part of a string of reprisals against Tehran’s enemies in the wake of a double suicide bombing in the city of Kerman on January 3, 2024, which killed more than 80 Iranians.
Although Islamic State (ISIS-K) claimed responsibility for that attack, however, Iran is lashing out against all foes to satisfy domestic calls for vengeance. Tehran carried out reprisal attacks in Pakistan, Syria and Iraq, responding to what it said were terrorist assaults inside Iran.
The latest Iranian strike comes amid the heightened political and security tensions in the region and fears of a wider Middle East conflict as Israel’s daily bombardment of the Gaza enclave passes the 100-day mark.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi group is continuing attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea in protest against what it says is Israel’s genocide of the people of the Gaza Strip. This has led to the United States and allies carrying out airstrikes in Yemen against Houthi targets for the first time.