On 25 October 2013, 14 Iranian border police personnel were killed and seven others were wounded while patrolling in the South Eastern border of the country. A group called Jaish ul-Adl, designated as a terrorist group by a couple of countries, including the United States, claimed responsibility for this act of terror and the perpetrators escaped immediately to Pakistan afterward. Iranian officials said that while Iran preserves its legal right to take action against terrorism wherever it is, Tehran expects the brother State of Pakistan to prevent such strikes from happening again.
A decade later, on Friday midnight, 15 December 2023, Iran police headquarters in Rask was attacked by these Pakistan-based terrorists, adding another attack to the tens of previous operations, imposing 11 other martyrs to the Iran cemetery of war against terrorism.
What prompted Iran
While Iran’s main foreign policy issue, like all Muslim countries, is to stop the Zionist regime’s war against Palestinians, Rask’s crime fell on two other domino pieces, challenging Iran’s national security concept.
The first one was the assassination of top IRGC commander Seyed Razi Mousavi by Israeil’s airstrike in Syria. The other one being the deadly bombing in Kerman by ISIS, which left 89 innocent people dead who were attending Gen. Soleymani’s memorial. Iran was left with no option other than effective responses to all sources of continuous threats that injected the feeling of insecurity into the society merely 45 days before the upcoming parliamentary election.
It started by destroying the Mossad site in Erbil, Iraq. Next was the missile launches (from 1,200 km distance) destroying the terrorist base in Idlib, Syria. And now a preventive action against sheltered terrorists at a military base in the “Green Mountain” of Pakistan. The videos taken from Iranian drones indicate that a large number of Jaish ul-Adl terrorists are preparing for an imminent attack on Iran from their headquarters freely.
Iran stepped in after it could not count on the Pakistani side to prevent them, based on their long history of failing to maintain security at the border. In simultaneous actions, Iran showed that it has the necessary deterrent power to prevent the spread of tension in the region and does not shy away from confronting any level of threat. Iran’s recent actions can be interpreted in the context of the knowledge that the possible miscalculations of others with regards to underestimating Tehran’s seriousness can ignite a bigger fire.
Pakistan’s retaliatory operation in an Iranian village on Thursday, blind enough, has killed several children and women even as Islamabad claims to have targeted the hideout of a Pakistani separatist movement. Tehran saw this retaliation as unbalanced and unacceptable. In a miscalculation, Islamabad crossed the red line by attacking directly inside Iran’s territory that even Israel or the United States have never touched. The possibility of internal consumption driven by the 8 February election cannot be ruled out in this hasty decision of the Pakistan. In addition, it reminds everyone what prestige means for countries.
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The brotherhood with Pakistan
In Iranian opinion, the neighborliness foreign policy is a fundamental priority. When this policy comes to Pakistan, the Islamic country that was first recognised by Iran in 1947, the brotherhood between the two nations and the two governments is much more valuable to Tehran than escalation. Moreover, Iran won’t divert its focus from the central issue of the Islamic world — Israel’s war in Gaza. Iran sees every accidental distraction in favor of Israeli regime. From this point of view, the unintentional deviation of the news headlines from the vulnerability and isolation of Israel to the tension between Iran and Pakistan is not in the interest of Muslim countries. Therefore, Iran wishes that the recent inevitable action against terrorists in Pakistan be the endpoint of neglecting mutual security duties.
Although Tehran, like every other country, reserves its right to take all necessary actions against terrorism with zero tolerance, is willing to overcome discomfort in the relations of the two countries quickly. And not open a new playground for the third parties to take advantage of the situation. It puts diplomacy to test for both sides, which is going not bad so far.
From a long-term perspective, creating and maintaining security is a prerequisite for upgrading economic relations. And double bilateral trade between the two countries from $ 2.5 billion. Once this cost is understood by both sides, the next phase is expected to witness joint operational measures to ensure security. The development of neighboring border provinces can help establish security.
In this regard, India can also play a role in maintaining peace and security in this region, in addition to benefiting financially from economic cooperation in Iran’s Sistan and Balochistan province. The development of transport corridors, especially Chabahar port, will give a new shape to the region and bring an eye-catching improvement in the relations between Tehran and New Delhi. Peace and security are the products of a wide range of actions of all actors beyond words.
Majid Afshani is Director of International Department at Governance and Policy Think Tank affiliated with Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Views are personal.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)