Iran’s FM in Pakistan for talks after airstrikes

ISLAMABAD: Iran’s top diplomat was in Pakistan on Monday for talks on deescalating tensions after deadly airstrikes by Tehran and Islamabad earlier this month killed at least 11 people, marking a significant escalation in fraught relations between the neighbors.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian landed at an airport near Islamabad before dawn and held what were described as “in-depth talks” with his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani at the Foreign Ministry in the South Asian country’s capital. Amirabdollahian was set to also meet with Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul-Haq-Kakar.

Relations between the two countries were dramatically imperiled on January 17, when Iran launched airstrikes in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Baluchistan province, targeting what Tehran said were hideouts of the anti-Iran militant group Jaish al-Adl, or the Army of Justice. Islamabad said two children were killed and three others were wounded.

Angered by the strikes, Pakistan recalled its ambassador from Tehran and launched airstrikes against alleged militant hideouts inside Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, killing at least nine people. Islamabad said it was targeting Baluch militant groups with separatist goals.

Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have long regarded each other with suspicion over militant attacks on their sides of the border. Experts say the tit-for-tat strikes this month were at least partially prompted by internal political pressures, though they also raised the threat of violence spreading across the Middle East, already unsettled by Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

During his visit, Amirabdollahian was expected to brief his hosts about an incident last Saturday in which unknown gunmen shot and killed at least four Pakistani laborers and wounded three others in Sistan-Baluchestan. Pakistan has condemned the killings, describing the attack as “horrifying and despicable.”

Relatives of the slain Pakistanis rallied on Sunday, demanding that the bodies of their loved ones be brought home. Islamabad said arrangements were being made for that with Tehran’s help and that the three wounded workers were being treated at an Iranian hospital.