Iran has acknowledged attacking western Pakistan on Tuesday with missiles and drones.
Following earlier this week’s attacks on targets in Syria and Iraq, Iran now launches an attack on Balochistan. The attack was deemed “illegal” by Islamabad, which also threatened “serious consequences”. According to Islamabad officials, the attack in Balochistan claimed the lives of two children and injured three more.
The operation, according to Iran’s foreign minister, was directed against the militant organisation Jaish al-Adli, which he called an “Iranian terrorist group” operating in Pakistan. Speaking in Davos, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian emphasised that only Jaish al-Adl members had been targeted, not any Pakistani nationals. “We only targeted Iranian terrorists on the soil of Pakistan,” he said.
Consequently, the government of Pakistan withdrew its ambassador from Iran and prevented its envoy from returning.
He continued by saying that he had “assured him that we do respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan and Iraq” after speaking with his counterpart from Pakistan.
The most recent airstrike coincides with rising tensions throughout the Middle East as Israel and the Palestinian organisation Hamas are engaged in a war in Gaza.
Tehran claims it has no desire to become embroiled in a larger battle. But in an effort to demonstrate their support for the Palestinians, factions within its so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which also includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi militants in Yemen, and other groups in Syria and Iraq, have been attacking Israel and its allies. Following their attack on commercial shipping, the Houthis have been targeted by airstrikes from the US and UK.
