Amid standoff, Iran says will not let ‘enemies’ strain ‘amicable and brotherly’ ties with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Iranian foreign ministry said on Thursday it would not allow “enemies” to strain its “amicable and brotherly” ties with neighboring Pakistan, after Islamabad launched strikes on separatist militants inside Iran in a retaliatory attack two days after Tehran said it had struck the bases of another group within Pakistani territory.
Iran confirmed it had attacked Jash Al-Adil militants in Pakistan on Tuesday after which Islamabad on Thursday launched retaliatory attacks against hideouts of Balochistan Liberation Army separatist insurgents inside Iran — the first air strike on Iranian soil since the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
The Iranian ministry of foreign affairs condemned what it called Pakistan’s “unacceptable” attack on villages inside its border in which it said non-Iranians had been killed. Tuesday’s strike was one of Iran’s toughest cross-border assaults on the Jaish Al-Adl group in Pakistan, which it says has links to Daesh. Many of Jaish’s members previously belonged to a now-defunct militant group known as Jundallah that had pledged allegiance to Daesh.
“At the same time, the Islamic Republic of Iran adheres to the policy of good neighborliness and brotherhood between the two nations and the two governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan,” the foreign ministry said. “It does not allow enemies to strain the amicable and brotherly relations of Tehran and Islamabad.”
Both the heavily-armed neighbors, oftentimes at odds over instability on their frontier and cross-border militancy, appear to want to try to contain the strains resulting from the highest-profile cross-border intrusions in recent years.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the security of its people and its territorial integrity as a red line and strongly expects the friendly and brotherly government of Pakistan to adhere to its obligations in preventing the establishment of bases and the deployment of armed terrorist groups on its soil,” Iran said.
The foreign ministry said Tuesday’s attack was “preventive action against a terrorist group preparing to infiltrate the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran to carry out another terrorist operation.”
“The action was carried out against the terrorist group’s barracks and headquarters located in the heights of the region, kilometers away from residential areas––a procedure which is part of the inherent duties of the border forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran to ‘proportionately deal’ with any ‘imminent terrorist threat’ against the people and citizens of the country,” the foreign ministry in Tehran added.
The statement said Iran “differentiated” between Pakistan’s friendly and brotherly government and armed militants and would not allow its “enemies and terrorist allies” to harm ties with Pakistan.
For Iran, the trigger for the latest flare-up was a devastating bombing on Jan. 3 that killed nearly 100 people at a ceremony in the southeastern city of Kerman to commemorate commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone in 2020.
Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s drive to extend its influence across the Middle East, was a hero to supporters of the hard-line establishment. Tehran publicly vowed revenge against Daesh, which has claimed responsibility for the bombing.