Iran on Sunday summoned the ambassador to Pakistan after a suicide bombing killed 27 of its Revolutionary Guards near the country’s border this week, Reuters reported. On Saturday, Iran had warned that Pakistan would pay “a heavy price” for allegedly harbouring the attackers who planned the incident.
This comes even as India’s ties with Pakistan are under immense strain following a suicide attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, in which 40 soldiers were killed. The extremist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for that attack.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari also accused Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of supporting militant factions that attack Iranian forces. Sunni group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which claims to seek more rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, claimed responsibility for the attack on Iran forces.
“We will avenge the blood of our martyrs from the Saudi and UAE governments and ask the President (Hassan Rouhani) ... to leave our hands free more than ever for reprisal operations,” Reuters quoted Jafari as saying at the funeral of a soldier who was killed.
Iran has repeatedly accused Pakistan of harbouring militants and has called for the country to crack down on safe havens for terrorists multiple times. Pakistan has now also come under pressure from the United States following the attack in Pulwama, Kashmir.
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