Pakistan targets Baloch separatists in Iran with ‘retaliatory’ missile strikes

Pakistan has launched “retaliatory” missile strikes into Iran today targeting “terrorist organisations the Balochistan Liberation Army and Balochistan Liberation Front,” it has been reported. The attacks in Iran’s south-eastern Sistan and Baluchistan province are said to have killed at least nine people.

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According to the Balochistan Liberation Front, an armed group operating in Pakistan, it has no hideouts in Iran and none of its fighters was “martyred” in the missile strikes.

The attacks follow Tuesday’s deadly missile and drone strike carried out by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, aimed at a Sunni separatist group, Jaish Al-Adl, described as an “Iranian terrorist group”.

Since the 3 January bomb attack in the Iranian city of Kerman, there have been heightened fears that the fallout could lead to a wider regional flare up. The US attributed that attack to Daesh or other Sunni groups, while Iran believes that there is an Israeli connection.

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Tehran has previously issued warnings to Pakistan to clamp down on the terrorist group which has been behind a string of attacks in the country. In 2019, the then IRGC Commander-in-Chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said that Islamabad should pursue and punish Jaish Al-Adl before Tehran takes its “revenge”.

Pakistan condemned the “unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran” and warned Tehran of “serious consequences”, while Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said his country only targeted Iranian “terrorists” on Pakistani soil. He insisted that “none of the nationals of the friendly country of Pakistan were targeted by missiles and drones of Iran.” However, Islamabad said the attacks claimed the lives of two children and wounded three others.

Yesterday, Pakistan said that it had recalled its ambassador from Iran, while the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan who is visiting Iran will not be allowed to go back to his post.

Following this morning’s incident, PressTV reported that Iran condemned Pakistan’s attack and summoned the Pakistani chargé d’affaires in protest.

The moves by Pakistan are considered to be both face-saving, and a means for both sides to de-escalate the situation. Michael Kugelman, the South Asia director at the Wilson Centre was quoted by the BBC as saying that, “Pakistan’s retaliation does raise the risk of escalation but it also provides an opportunity to step back from the brink.”

In effect, he added, the two sides are even now. “Islamabad had a strong incentive to try to restore deterrence, especially with Iran on the offensive around the wider region deploying direct strikes and proxies to hit out at threats and rivals. In effect, if Pakistan had held back, it would have faced the risk of additional strikes.”

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