Missile Exchange Between Iran and Pakistan Heightens Tensions in a Region Already on Edge
In response to Tehran’s strikes on Balochistan, Pakistan targets ‘terrorist hideouts’ said to be located in southeastern Iran.
A rare missile exchange between Iran and Pakistan has served to raise temperatures in the already volatile West Asia and Middle East regions.
On Jan. 18, Tehran lodged a formal complaint with Pakistan after the latter conducted a series of missile strikes against targets in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province.
According to Pakistan’s foreign ministry, the dawn strikes targeted two sites associated with a Boloch militant faction opposed to the Pakistani government.
Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province shares a lengthy border with Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan region.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said several Baloch “terrorists” had been killed by what it described as “precision strikes on terrorist hideouts.”
A Pakistani intelligence source cited by Reuters claimed the strikes had targeted members of the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF).
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The BLF claims to seek independence for mineral-rich Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest—and least developed—province.
For years, Islamabad has accused the BLF of waging an armed insurrection against the Pakistani state.
Iran’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, condemned the strikes, summoning Pakistan’s charge d’affaires in Tehran to explain.
According to Iranian press reports, Pakistani missiles struck a local village, killing nine people—all foreign nationals.
Iran and Pakistan have had rocky ties in the past but have maintained relatively good relations—despite fraught regional circumstances—in recent years.
Pakistan’s strikes on Iranian territory came days after Iran launched its own missile barrages against targets in Iraq, Syria, and Balochistan.
On Jan. 15, Iran fired dozens of missiles and drones at targets in and around the city of Erbil in northern Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region.
According to Iran’s foreign ministry, the strikes targeted a base for Israeli intelligence, which Tehran claims is active in Iraqi Kurdistan.
“This doesn’t amount to a strike on Iraq,” an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said, stressing Tehran’s respect for Iraq’s territorial integrity.
Nevertheless, Baghdad responded by pulling its ambassador from Tehran.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani has warned that the strikes risked harming the “strong ties” between the two countries.
Masrour Barzani, the Kurdish region’s prime minister, said the strikes had targeted a residential area of Erbil, killing four civilians.
He described the Iranian strikes as a “crime against the Kurdish people.”
Qasim al-Araji, Iraq’s national security adviser, dismissed Tehran’s claims that Israeli intelligence had an active presence in Iraq’s Kurdish region.
Asked about the claims, an Israeli government spokesman declined to speculate.
“What I will say is that Iran continues to use its proxies to attack Israel on multiple fronts,” he said, referring to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi militia.
‘ISIS’ Attacks
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said the strikes in Iraq were retaliation for recent attacks on Iranian targets allegedly carried out by Israel.
Late last month, a senior IRGC officer was killed in Damascus by what is widely believed to have been an Israeli airstrike.
When asked about the deadly strike, an Israeli army spokesman said Israel’s military had a “responsibility” to safeguard the country’s “security interests.”
One week later, scores of people were killed—mostly civilians—when Iran’s south-central city of Kerman was rocked by two massive explosions.
The bombings occurred at a ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the death of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani, killed in 2020 by a U.S. drone strike.
One day after the bombings in Kerman, the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS) terrorist group claimed responsibility for the carnage.
In recent years, Shiite Iran has suffered several terrorist attacks later claimed by the shadowy ISIS group.
Iranian officials have previously claimed—without evidence—that the U.S. and Israel “created” ISIS with the aim of sowing chaos in the region.
U.S. and Israeli officials, for their part, reject the allegation.
After striking targets in Iraq’s Kurdish region, Iran also reportedly struck what it said were ISIS positions in Syria.
Key allies, Iran and Syria both view ISIS as a foreign-backed terrorist organization and have sought—with Russia’s help—to obliterate the group’s regional presence.
Balochistan Under Fire
After striking targets in Iraq and Syria, Iran also hit positions in Pakistan’s Balochistan province with missiles and drones.
According to Iranian officials, the strikes were aimed at two bases linked to the Jaish al-Adl group, another ethnically Baloch militant outfit.
Regarded by Washington as a terrorist organization, Jaish al-Adl is said to have carried out several previous attacks on Iranian targets.
In its previous incarnation as Jundallah, the group at one point reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS leaders based in Iraq and Syria.
Islamabad, meanwhile, has recalled its ambassador from Tehran to protest what it describes as a “blatant violation” of its sovereignty.
Speaking to reporters on Jan. 17, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller condemned the spate of Iranian cross-border strikes.
“We’ve seen Iran violate the sovereign borders of three of its neighbors in just the past couple of days,” he said.
Officials in Tehran have responded by stressing their country’s “legitimate right to counter national security threats.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
