Pakistan Retaliatory Attack on Iran Results in 9 Casualties
Iran, a Shia Islamic country, launched an air strike against Pakistan, a Sunni country, on the 16th of March, on the pretext of fighting against terrorist organizations, resulting in two deaths and three injuries. Pakistan retaliated by launching air strikes against separatist militants in Iranian territory on the 18th, killing at least nine people.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has issued a statement confirming a series of highly coordinated and targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in the Iranian province of Khistan-Balochistan. Iran condemned the attack and summoned the Pakistani envoy for an explanation. The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling on the Pakistani authorities to prevent the establishment of bases and armed terrorist organizations on their territory.
Iran claimed that Tuesday's airstrikes were only aimed at Iranian terrorists inside Pakistani territory and that no Pakistani nationals were targeted, but the attack sparked outrage in Pakistan, which criticized it as a serious violation of international law and the spirit of bilateral relations between the two countries.
However, the two nuclear-armed countries seem to want the situation to stop. Iran's foreign ministry said on the 18th that it was committed to maintaining good neighborly relations with Pakistan, but called on the Islamabad authorities not to set up "terrorist bases" on its own territory; Pakistan also issued a similar statement, "the sole purpose of counter-attacks is to serve its own security and national interests," and "according to intelligence, we will make precise strikes against the terrorist hideouts".
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