China urges Iran, Pakistan to 'exercise restraint' after deadly air strike

Chinese spokesperson says consider both Iran and Pakistan as close neighbours and major Islamic countries

BEIJING:

China urged Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday to show "restraint", after Islamabad said Tehran had carried out an air strike on its territory that killed two children.

"We call on both sides to exercise restraint, avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension and work together to maintain peace and stability," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.

"We consider both Iran and Pakistan as close neighbours and major Islamic countries," she said. Both Iran and Pakistan are close partners of Beijing and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Pakistan denounced the strike, near the nations' shared border late on Tuesday, as "completely unacceptable", saying it was unprovoked.

Iran offered no immediate official comment but its state-run Nour News agency said the attack destroyed the Pakistan headquarters of the militant group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice). Formed in 2012, Jaish al-Adl is blacklisted by Iran as a terrorist group and has carried out several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years.

The strike came after Iran launched missile attacks on "spy headquarters" and "terrorist" targets in Syria, and in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.

The Iranian strikes add to multiple crises across the Middle East, with Israel waging a war against Hamas in Gaza and pro-Palestinian Huthi rebels in Yemen attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The drone strikes

A day earlier, an Iranian drone and missile strike on targets, which Tehran described as bases for the militant group Jaish al-Adl, in the Panjgur district of Balochistan killed two “innocent children” and wounded three girls, Iranian state media and Foreign Office (FO) in Islamabad said.

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Pakistan condemned the attack, describing it an “unprovoked violation” of the Pakistani airspace, and warned Tehran of serious consequences. The FO said in a late-night statement that the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty was completely unacceptable.

Two bases of Jaish al Adl in Pakistan were targeted by missiles on Tuesday, Iranian state media reported, a day after Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards missiles strikes hit an “Israeli spy centre” in Iraq and targeted Islamic State militants in Syria.

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Pakistan’s Strong Condemnation of the Unprovoked Violation of its Air Space

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"These bases were hit and destroyed by missiles and drones," media reports in Tehran said. Iran's Nournews, affiliated with the country's top security body, said the attacked bases were located in the Balochistan province.

However, Pakistan contested Iran’s claims that the strikes destroyed “terrorist hideouts” and strongly protested with the neighbouring country. “This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and can have serious consequences,” the FO statement said.

Jaish-al-Adl is a militant group established in 2012 and had been operating from Iran’s Sistan-Balochistan province. Tehran alleges that the group also has hideouts across the border in Pakistan.

The group since its inception took responsibility of several attacks against Iran’s security forces.

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In February 2019, the group killed 27 security personnel, prompting Iranian civil and military leadership to issue stern warnings to Pakistan.

However, Tuesday’s strike came as major surprise because Tehran opted for this option despite existence of channels of communication between the two countries.

Also, the strikes were launched the day Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar met with the Iranian foreign minister on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The Iranian president’s point man for Afghanistan was also in Islamabad, recently.

Soon after the attack, Pakistan’s strong protest was lodged with the concerned senior official in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran, while Iran’s charge d’affaires was summoned by the foreign ministry.

“Additionally, the Iranian charge d’affaires has been called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey our strongest condemnation of this blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and that the responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran,” the FO maintained.

“It is even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran,” the FO said. “Such unilateral acts are not in conformity with good neighbourly relations and can seriously undermine bilateral trust and confidence.”

The statement reiterated that Pakistan had always said that terrorism was a common threat to all countries in the region that required coordinated action.