ISLAMABAD: Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian will visit Pakistan on Jan.29, while ambassadors of both countries will return to their respective posts on Jan. 26, the foreign office in Islamabad said on Monday as both countries move to de-escalate tensions after a flareup last week.
Pakistan conducted retaliatory air strikes in a southeastern Iranian border village in which Tehran said nine people were killed, two days after an Iranian drone attack killed two children in southwestern Pakistan, according to Islamabad. Both countries said they had targeted militant bases in the neighboring country.
Pakistan recalled its ambassador from Tehran and barred Iran’s ambassador, who was visiting Iran, from returning to Islamabad after the Iranian strikes.
“Following the telephone conversation between the Foreign Ministers of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, it has been mutually agreed that ambassadors of both countries may return to their respective posts by 26 January 2024,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.
A man watches a news channel on television inside a shop after the Pakistani foreign ministry said the country conducted strikes inside Iran targeting separatist militants, two days after Tehran said it attacked Israel-linked militant bases inside Pakistani territory, in Peshawar, Pakistan on January 18, 2024. (REUTERS)
“At the invitation of Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, will undertake a visit to Pakistan on 29 January 2024.”
Pakistan last Friday announced its decision to restore diplomatic ties with Iran and expressed its willingness to work with Tehran on “all issues,” following a call between their foreign ministers.
Iran and Pakistan share a 900-kilometer (560-mile), largely lawless border and have long suspected each other of supporting, or at least behaving leniently, toward some of the militant groups operating on the other side of the border. Both deny the charges.
