Pakistan, Iran Agree for Envoys to Resume Duties Days After Trading Airstrikes

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is set to visit Pakistan on 29 January, a joint statement said.

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(Photo: iStock/Altered by The Quint)

Iran and Pakistan announced on Monday, 22 January, that their Ambassadors would resume their diplomatic duties after both nations agreed to to de-escalate tensions stemming from a recent exchange of strikes.

In a joint statement issued by the Foreign Ministries in Tehran and Islamabad, it was stated that the Ambassadors of both countries would be reinstated to their respective posts by Friday, 26 January .

Furthermore, the statement said that Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is scheduled to visit Pakistan on January 29, following an invitation extended by his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani. These decisions were the outcome of a constructive phone call between Jilani and Amir-Abdollahian.

On the night of Tuesday, 16 January, Iran said it attacked militant bases of Jaish al Adl (JAA) in Pakistan, as per Reuters. Pakistan claimed the attack hit civilians and killed two children.

In a phone call with his Iranian counterpart the next day, Pakistan's foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, on Wednesday, underscored that the attack was "not only a serious breach of Pakistan's sovereignty but was also an egregious violation of international law and the spirit of bilateral relations" between the two countries.

Pakistan also recalled its ambassador from Iran and asked Tehran's envoy, who was on a visit back home, not to return to Islamabad since the air strikes. It added that all "all high level visits which were ongoing or were planned" between the two countries have been suspended.

Iran foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, however, insisted his country's armed forces, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), launched the attacks that had targeted the "Iranian terrorist group" Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan.

"None of the nationals of the friendly and brotherly country of Pakistan were targeted by Iranian missiles and drones," he said in Davos, Switzerland, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

In retaliation, Pakistan on 18 January, hit alleged separatist militants of the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) inside the Sistan-Baluchestan. The airstrikes led to civilian deaths, as per reports.

In a statement, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the country "undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran," killing an unspecified number of "terrorists."

Islamabad said that the action is a "manifestation of Pakistan’s unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats," and added that they "will continue to take all necessary steps to preserve the safety and security of its people which is sacrosanct, inviolable and sacred."

Pakistan and Iran share a border that divides the Balochi-dominated area of both countries. This is a region that suffers from endemic insurgencies that periodically flare up against Iran or Pakistan. It also generates tension between the two countries because the border between them is porous.