The flare-up between Iran and Pakistan comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and on the heels of Iranian airstrikes late Monday in Iraq and Syria.
Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have long regarded each other with suspicion over militant attacks, but analysts say this week’s tit-for-tat strikes were at least partially in response to internal political pressures.
It is also seeking to flex military power at a time when militant groups it supports in the region — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen — are engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The ministry said in a statement it had “credible intelligence of impending large scale terrorist activities” and pledged “unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats.”
A deputy governor of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, Ali Reza Marhamati, gave the casualty figures from Thursday’s strike, saying the dead included three women, four children and two men near the town of Saravan along the border.
The risk of escalation remained Thursday as Iran’s military begins a planned annual air defense drill from its port of Chabahar near Pakistan all across the south of the country to Iraq.
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