Pakistan has carried out missile strikes inside Iran's borders, after Tehran's attack on Pakistani soil on Tuesday.Pakistan's foreign ministry said the strikes hit "terrorist hideouts" in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province
- It added that the purpose of the attack was "in pursuit of Pakistan's own security and national interest"
- At least nine people have been killed in the attacks, Iranian state media reports
- On Tuesday Iran struck targets inside Pakistan's Balochistan province, saying it was targeting the Jaish al-Adl group
- Pakistan and Iran have long accused each other of harbouring militant groups that carry out attacks from regions along their shared border.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says Iran and Pakistan do not want to escalate further tensions.
He says he has spoken to his counterparts from both countries and that both sides are committed to restraint.
"I spoke to the foreign ministers of both countries this morning. They explained to me the justifications of their actions," Fidan said at a press conference in Jordan.
"Both sides told me they have [the situation] under control."
Shashank Joshi, defence editor at The Economist, says he does not believe Iran’s strikes on Pakistan on Tuesday were an outcome of Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel.
"The story here is about Iran flexing its muscles, perhaps outraged by what it saw as a grievous assault on its country in Kerman. Iran is wounded and is lashing out,” Joshi told the BBC's Today programme.
Joshi adds that this is "not the first time there have been border tensions [between Iran and Pakistan], but it is by far and away the most serious escalation in tensions that I can remember".
It’s never a good sign when two countries exchange blows like this, particularly two large, influential countries like Iran and Pakistan.
But despite the wreckage, the civilian casualties and some of the heated rhetoric, this still doesn’t feel like a real crisis.
Iran and Pakistan have complicated but cordial relations.
Their ministers met at Davos this week and their navies conducted joint exercises in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.
The two countries have similar concerns about the lawless border area, where drug smugglers and militant Baloch groups are very active.
After both sets of air strikes, each side seemed anxious to emphasise that these did not represent attacks on a brotherly neighbour.
After Tuesday’s Iranian action, Pakistan expressed considerable public outrage and spoke of “serious consequences.”
This morning, Iran summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires, according to its foreign ministry spokesman, “to protest and request an explanation.”
But the attack went largely unreported on Iranian tv and Tehran’s reaction seems relatively muted.
The authorities pointed out that the victims, who included women and children, were not Iranian nationals.
Iran probably knew that Pakistan would feel compelled to respond. Each side has satisfied its honour and, perhaps, met the demands of public opinion.
An expert says Pakistan's strikes into Iran raises the risk of escalation, but "also provides an opportunity to step back from the brink".
"In effect, the two sides are even now," Michael Kugelman, South Asia director at the Wilson Center, tells the BBC.
Kugelman says the Pakistani government had a "strong incentive to try to restore deterrence" to Tehran, especially in the context of a more aggressive Iran "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," Kugelman says.
THESE REPORTS AND MORE UPDATES AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-68015978
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