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Channel: KN News
Date: 2024-01-19

Why are Iran and Pakistan striking each other’s territory – and what does it have to do with the Middle East?


Pakistan and Iran have both conducted strikes on each other’s territories in an unprecedented escalation of hostilities between the neighbors, at a time when tensions have risen sharply across the Middle East and beyond.

The two countries share a volatile border, stretching about 900 kilometers (560 miles), with Pakistan’s Balochistan province on one side and Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province on the other.

Both nations have long fought militants in the restive Baloch region along the border. But while the two countries share a common separatist enemy, it is highly unusual for either side to attack militants on each other’s soil.

The latest strikes come as Iran’s allies and proxies in the Middle East – the so-called axis of resistance – launch attacks on Israeli forces and its allies against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.

What happened?
The opening salvo in this fast-moving sequence of events began Tuesday when Iran conducted strikes on Pakistan’s Balochistan province – killing two children and wounding several others, according to Pakistani authorities.

Iran claimed it had “only targeted Iranian terrorists on the soil of Pakistan” and that no Pakistani nationals were targeted.

But the attack sparked anger in Pakistan, which called the strike “an egregious violation of international law and the spirit of bilateral relations between Pakistan and Iran.”

Iran’s state-aligned Tasnim news agency said it had been targeting strongholds of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, known in Iran as Jaish al-Dhulm, or Army of Justice.

The separatist militant group operates on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border and has previously claimed responsibility for attacks against Iranian targets. Its ultimate goal is independence for Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is majority Sunni – the dominant branch of Islam – while Iran and its “axis of resistance” is largely Shia.


  the day after an Iranian missile strike on Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The people of the Baloch region – where Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet – resent being ruled by both Islamabad and Tehran, with insurgencies bubbling across the border region for decades.

Pakistan struck back two days later with what it called a “series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes” on several alleged separatist hideouts in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Announcing the strikes on Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said a number of militants were killed. At least 10 people — all Pakistani nationals — were killed, Tasnim reported, citing the deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchestan, who said authorities were investigating how those people had “settled in the village.”


Pakistan and Iran’s struggle against separatists operating on either side of each other’s borders is not new.

Deadly clashes along the turbulent border have happened regularly over the years. Just last month, Iran accused Jaish al-Adl militants of storming a police station in Sistan and Baluchestan, which resulted in the deaths of 11 Iranian police officers, according to Tasnim.
The larger regional conflict may have emboldened Iran to be more proactive in pursuing targets beyond its borders, experts say – especially as the United States walks a tightrope between de-escalating hostilities and flexing its own military might to deter further moves by Iran.
Iran has also faced a long history of insurgencies from its Kurdish, Arab and Baloch minorities.
In 2015, the group claimed responsibility for an attack that killed eight Iranian border guards, with militants reportedly crossing into Iran from Pakistan. And in 2019, it claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that hit a bus carrying members of the Iranian military, killing at least 23 in Sistan-Baluchestan.
On Wednesday, a day after Iran’s strikes on Pakistan, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for an attack on an Iranian military vehicle in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Iran’s strikes on Tuesday sparked a diplomatic spat, with Pakistan recalling its ambassador from Iran and suspending all high-level visits from its neighbor.

And after Pakistan’s strikes, Iran on Thursday demanded “an immediate explanation” from its neighbor, Tasnim reported – and the Iranian military conducted a large-scale exercise off the country’s southwest coast, involving the air force, naval forces and ground forces.

Nearby nations have weighed in, with Turkey’s foreign minister holding calls with his counterparts in both Iran and Pakistan. Afterward, he said neither country wanted to escalate tensions further.

India said it has “zero tolerance towards terrorism,” and that the attack was “a matter between Iran and Pakistan.” China urged both nations to exercise restraint, and the European Union said it was “gravely concerned by the spiral of violence in the Middle East and beyond.”