Pakistan expressed willingness to work with Iran on “all issues” in a phone call between its foreign ministers on Friday, after the two countries exchanged drone and missile strikes on militant bases in each other’s territory .
The attacks by the two countries represent the highest profile cross-border intrusions in recent years and have raised alarm about wider instability in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7.
However, both sides have already signaled a desire to ease tensions, despite having a history of volatile relations.
A statement from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani spoke with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian on Friday, a day after Pakistan’s attacks in Iran.
Iran said Thursday’s attacks killed nine people in a border village on its territory, including four children. Pakistan said Tuesday’s Iranian attack killed two children.
“Foreign Minister Jilani expressed Pakistan’s willingness to work with Iran on all issues based on the spirit of mutual trust and cooperation,” the statement read. “He stressed the need for closer cooperation on security issues.”
The contact follows a phone call between Jilani and his Turkish counterpart in which Islamabad said “Pakistan has no interest or desire for escalation.”
The contacts come as Pakistan’s interim prime minister, Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, opened a meeting of the National Security Committee, attended by all the heads of the military services, a source told Reuters. prime minister’s office.
The aim of the meeting is “a broad review of national security following the incidents between Iran and Pakistan”, Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said. Kakar cut short his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos and returned home on Thursday.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the two nations to exercise maximum restraint. The United States also called for restraint, although US President Joe Biden said the clashes showed that Iran was not well regarded in the region.
Islamabad said it hit bases of the separatist Baloch Liberation Front and the Baloch Liberation Army, while Tehran said its drones and missiles hit militants from the Jaish al Adl (JAA) group.
The militant groups operate in an area that includes Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province and Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Balochistan province, both of which are restive, mineral-rich and largely underdeveloped.
Source: Terra
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