Iranian minister defends air strikes in Pakistan
Iran’s Foreign Minister has defended his country’s bombing of an alleged militant base in Pakistan after Islamabad recalled its ambassador to Tehran over the attack.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Hossein Amirabdollahian said that Tehran had struck an “Iranian terrorist group” in the neighbouring country, and no Pakistani citizens were harmed.
Pakistan said two children were killed in the air strikes on its territory, close to the border with Iran.
In a conversation with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Mr Amirabdollahian referred to Pakistan as a “friendly and brotherly” country, despite the tension between the two nations.
“The so-called Jaish Al Adl group, which is an Iranian terrorist group, was targeted,” the minister added.
Iran’s state-run Tasnim news agency reported the strikes and said two Jaish Al Adl bases in Pakistan’s Balochistan province were “specifically targeted and successfully demolished by a combination of missile and drone attacks” late on Tuesday.
The Iranian Nour News agency said early yesterday the attack destroyed Jaish Al Adl’s headquarters in Pakistan. Mr Amirabdollahian said the assault carried out on Pakistani soil was a response to Jaish Al Adl’s recent deadly attacks in Iran, particularly on the city of Rask in the south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
“The group has taken shelter in some parts of Pakistan’s Balochistan province,” he said. “We’ve talked with Pakistani officials several times on this matter.”
Pakistan recalled its ambassador from Iran and barred Tehran’s envoy from returning to Islamabad in response to the attack.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, a spokeswoman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, confirmed Islamabad was recalling its envoy over the strikes.
“Last night’s unprovoked and blatant breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty by Iran is a violation of international law and the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations,” she said in a televised address.
Pakistan had asked the Iranian ambassador, who was visiting Tehran when the attack took place, not to return, Ms Baloch added.
“This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and can have serious consequences,”
the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said. It said the air strike had had “caused serious damage to bilateral ties” and “resulted in the death of two innocent children while injuring three”.
Abdul Hameed, who is in charge of the government-linked paramilitary Levies force in Pakistan’s Kosab area, told The National that three missiles were fired at a home in Kosab village, in the Panjgur district.
Mr Hameed said four women were also wounded as a result of the air strike.
“Only the house targeted in the strike was damaged, and there was no other damage to nearby places,” he said.
Mr Hameed said he had not seen Jaish Al Adl militants in the area, but had heard from locals about their movements.
“But the strike killed children and women, who were definitely innocent,” he said.
The strike came hours after Mr Amirabdollahian met Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar on the sidelines of the Davos forum, where political and business leaders are discussing global issues.
Mr Amirabdollahian also said Iranian officials had spoken with Pakistani officials “several times” about the fight against “terrorists” in the country.
He added he had spoken with the Pakistan Foreign Minister Jalil Jilani and assured him that Iran “respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of its neighbour but would not allow its “national security” to be compromised.
“We have no hesitations or reservations when it comes to our national interests,” Mr Amirabdollahian said.
He emphasised Iran’s strikes in Pakistan were not linked to its response to Israel’s war in Gaza, but were instead a matter of national security.
When asked by Mr Zakaria about Iran’s expansionist role in the region, Mr Amirabdollahian said Tehran had been forced to broaden its involvement in response to what he called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza since October 7.
“If the genocide does not stop, the war will spread out and become larger. This doesn’t mean that we wanted to play a role in this enlargement,” he said, in reference to the attacks by the Houthis on the Red Sea and Lebanese Hezbollah’s cross-border fighting with Israel.
Iran supports both groups as part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, which regularly denounces the US and Israel.