Attack on Pakistani soil why did Iran need such an action against the ‘brother country
The missile and drone attack by Iran on a target inside Pakistan on Tuesday night has strained relations between the two nations and created unease in the region. Even though Iran has already fired missiles at targets in Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region, and Idlib, Syria, the situation in Pakistan is becoming more and more important.
Hussain Amir Abdullayan, the foreign minister of Iran, reiterated that “we support your territorial integrity and sovereignty,” despite Jalil Abbas Jilani, Pakistan’s acting foreign minister, characterizing it as a “provocative act” that damaged relations between the two nations. We cannot sacrifice our national security for any amount of respect.
The Pakistani Foreign Office claimed that “two innocent children were killed” in this cross-border operation, while the Iranian Foreign Minister claimed that Iran targeted the “Iranian terrorist group” Jaish-ul-Adl in Pakistan.
In addition, Pakistan declared that it would recall its ambassador from Iran due to a border violation.
Iran’s aerial operations beyond borders
Iran has started launching strikes against locations within Iraq, especially in the Kurdistan area. Iran claims that anti-Iranian organizations have sought refuge there; however, the Iraqi government contests this.
Drones, artillery, and rockets have all been utilized in these attacks with equal ferocity in the past.
Although the intensity of Iran’s missile attacks on targets inside Syria appears to be lower than that of its attacks in Iraq, the attacks in Idlib are more significant in terms of the missiles’ potency and range.
Such a strike within Pakistani territory is unusual for Iran, especially given the date of the attack.
Local authorities said that the Iranian “missile and drone attack” took place in Pakistan’s Balochistan province’s Sabz Koh, a challenging region close to Panjgur city.
Iran is said to have previously attacked certain regions of Panjgur and Kech, but the manner, scope, and time were entirely different. It was not even reported to the media in certain instances.
Relationship fluctuations with Pakistan, the “carrier” nation
Relations between Iran and Pakistan have always been up and down. Nonetheless, it might be argued that these relationships are at their pinnacle as of 2021.
Tensions have occasionally resulted in violence between Pakistani Sunni and Shia communities, which has claimed lives. Iran’s ‘culture representative’ in Lahore, Siddiq Ganji, was assassinated in 1990. In Peshawar, an employee of the Iranian consulate, Abul Hasan Jafari, was killed in 2009.
Similarly, anti-Iranian groups’ operations in Sistan and Baluchistan severely damaged Iranian forces, resulting in numerous Iranian soldiers being killed or maimed.
The extremist group Jundullah claimed responsibility for the 2008 bombing in southern Sistan and Baluchistan that murdered a top commander of Iran’s formidable Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Among the fatalities of this strike were Sistan and Baluchistan Province Commander Rajab Ali Muhammadzada, IRGC Deputy Commander of Ground Forces, and Commander Noor Ali Shushtri of Quds Base. This suicide attack also claimed the lives of the commanders of the Iranshahr Corps, the Sepoy Corps, and the Amirul Momineen Brigade.
At the Sarawan police station in the provinces of Sistan and Balochistan, which is located on the Iran-Pakistan border, several Iranian troops were kidnapped in June 2007. Pakistan was urged to provide the leadership of its resistance groups, which it claimed had sought safety in Pakistan, and Iranian authorities demanded Pakistan’s “cooperation” in exchange. It was subsequently stated that the Iranian soldiers who were taken captive had died.
In many instances, Iranian authorities have stated quite openly that Iran may take action against Pakistan if it is unable to carry out such a move.
Pakistan has refuted the erroneous assertion that it has any safe havens for opponents of the Iranian regime on its soil.
However, Iran has never responded quite like it did on Tuesday night, despite all these significant events.
The two nations discussed forming joint border committees in each of these cases, but no formal report on their composition or operations was ever released.
Iran and Pakistan are relatively close to one another despite these issues. On certain issues, they disagree with one another. For example, the ‘Aman Pipeline’ to bring gas from Iran to Pakistan has been put on hold due to Kabul’s or Islamabad’s ties to Washington.
It is because of this that many doubts about the alleged ‘fraternal’ relationship are being raised by the recent incident.
When the attack occurred
With many factions fighting the central authority in the Balochistan region, Iran and Pakistan are still facing difficulties.
The Afghan border, which is currently governed by the Taliban, presents issues for both nations. Iran has challenges on its western frontiers, just as Pakistan has on its eastern border with India.
The two nations appear to have avoided tension on a different border and attempted to work together to find a mutually acceptable solution despite the tension in the Sistan and Baluchistan region. Maybe for that reason, border tensions between the two have never escalated to the current level.
For this reason, it is significant that Iran attacked “Jaish-ul-Adl” within Pakistani territory. The fact that the attack took place while Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, and Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister, Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, were meeting in Davis for the World Economic Summit made it even more significant.
Amir Abdollahian “considered the battle against psychological oppression as a worry for the two nations and stressed that the previous arrangements between the two nations ought to be executed,” as per the Iranian news organization Asna, during the gathering.
Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar stated in the same report that Pakistan and Iran are dealing with the same regional issue. He placed a strong emphasis on working together to reduce the threat of.
Joint military drills between the two nations were also reported by Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, on Tuesday night.
In light of all of this, it is challenging to pinpoint the precise motivations behind the attack, but it is obvious that diplomatic tensions have been raised.
While the anti-Iranian group’s activities are still ongoing in the Balochistan region, the most recent suicide strike in Kerman claimed many lives. This may be the primary cause of the Iranian invasion of Pakistani territory.
Although Iran believes Israel was engaged in these assaults, the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Kerman attack. Some Iranian officials maintain that Israel is still operating near their borders.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry stated one of the people engaged in the Kerman incident “entered illegally through the southeastern border through local smugglers.” A wife and a child were with him. As per his statement, he moved into a rented home near Kerman.
The Border Guard Command, which is a division of the Iranian Police Command, is in charge of maintaining border security. However, the IRGC Quds Base has been in charge of the 300 kilometers of critical territory along the Sistan-Baluchistan border since 2014. This includes the locale lining Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.
However, it is also possible to evaluate the strike on Pakistani land from the perspective that it is well-received locally.
The attack in Pakistan, in a sense, also demonstrates the strength of the Revolutionary Guards—that is, Tehran can carry out such an act and bear the repercussions—after events in Syria and Iraq.
The strikes have the potential to escalate tensions, but they also violate territorial sovereignty and airspace to convey to the West that Iranian military authorities are involved in the region. Iran is frequently accused by Western nations of causing instability in the area.
However, at this point, the effort to invade Pakistani territory might not produce the outcomes that its planners had hoped for. Iran’s actions in the area and on the diplomatic front have put Tehran in a tough situation that will take time to resolve.