Pakistan strikes inside Iran against militant targets, stoking regional tensions

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan conducted strikes inside Iran on Jan 18, targeting separatist militants, targeting separatist Baloch militants, the Pakistani foreign ministry said, two days after Teheran said it had attacked the bases of another group within Pakistani territory.

Iranian media said several missiles hit a village in the Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders Pakistan, killing at least nine people. Earlier reports said three women and four children were killed, all non-Iranians.

The neighbours have had rocky relations in the past, but the strikes are the highest-profile cross-border intrusion in recent years.

Iran’s strike and Pakistan’s retaliatory attack deepen worries about instability across the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas started on Oct 7, with Iran’s allies also entering the fray from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

“A number of terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, describing it as a “series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts”.

“Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the ministry added. “The sole objective of today’s act was in pursuit of Pakistan’s own security and national interest, which is paramount and cannot be compromised.”

Teheran has asked Islamabad for an explanation about the strikes, Tasnim reported, citing an unidentified official.

Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-haq Kakar will cut short a visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos and return home, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.  

Iran strongly condemns the strikes, its Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said, adding that Pakistan’s charge d’affaires, its most senior diplomat in Teheran, had been summoned to give an explanation.

A Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters the strikes were carried out by military aircraft.

“Our forces have conducted strikes to target Baloch militants inside Iran,” said the intelligence official in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

“The targeted militants belong to BLF,” he added, referring to the Balochistan Liberation Front, which seeks independence for Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

Pakistan’s military is on “extremely” high alert and any more “misadventure” incidents from the Iranian side will be met forcefully, a top Pakistani security source said on Jan 18.

Iran said on Jan 16 it had hit Israel-linked militant bases inside Pakistan. Both targeted groups are Balochi, but it is not clear if they cooperate.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan said civilians had been hit and two children killed, warning of consequences for which Teheran would be responsible.

Islamabad recalled its ambassador from Iran on Jan 17 in protest against what it called a “blatant breach” of its sovereignty.

Pakistan’s stocks and international bonds fell after the strikes. The Karachi stock index fell as much as 0.85 per cent, while the 2026 bond dropped 1.2 cents to trade at 71.125 cents in the dollar, data from Tradeweb showed.

Escalation fears

Iran had been flexing its muscles in the region, even before its cross-border incursion into Pakistan.

It launched strikes on Syria, against what Teheran said were Islamic State sites, and Iraq, where it said it had struck an Israeli espionage centre. Baghdad recalled its ambassador from Teheran.

The neighbours had appeared to be improving ties, with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and Pakistan’s Mr Kakar meeting at Davos this week, before the Iranian strikes on Pakistan.

Pakistan’s comments after its retaliatory strikes signal a desire to keep the row contained, but analysts warned that it could get out of hand.

“Iran’s motivation for attacking Pakistan remains opaque, but in the light of broader Iranian behaviour in the region, it can escalate,” Dr Asfandyar Mir, a senior expert on South Asia security at the United States Institute of Peace, told Reuters.

"What will cause anxiety in Teheran is that Pakistan has crossed a line by hitting inside Iranian territory, a threshold that even the US and Israel have been careful to not breach."

Former Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif said the action was retaliatory.

“A measured response has been given and it was important,” he told Geo TV. “There should be ongoing efforts on the side that this doesn’t escalate.”

Both targeted groups operate in an area that includes Pakistan’s south-western province of Balochistan and Iran’s south-eastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. Both are restive, mineral-rich and largely underdeveloped.

The BLF, which Islamabad targeted inside Iran, is waging an armed insurgency against the Pakistani state.

This includes hitting Chinese citizens and investments in Balochistan, which is Pakistan's largest province by land mass, but its least populated and developed. Large portions are lawless.

The Jaish al-Adl, which Iran targeted, is also an ethnic militant group, but with Sunni Islamist leanings that primarily Shi’ite Iran sees as a threat.

The group has carried out attacks in Iran against its powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In its previous incarnation as Jundallah, the group had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria terror group. REUTERS