WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that mutual airstrikes by Pakistan and Iran on each other’s territory showed that Tehran was not “popular” in the increasingly tense region.
“As you can see, Iran is not very popular in the region,” Biden told reporters at the White House, adding that “we are working to understand how the situation is going to play out.
Pakistan on Thursday struck terrorist hideouts in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province, two days after Iran violated its airspace. Several terrorists were killed in an intelligence-based operation – codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’ – the Ministry of External Affairs said.
The Army Media Department said that during the operation, “hideouts used by terrorist organizations namely Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF)” were hit.
Iran’s IRNA news agency said nine people were killed in the attack on a village in the town of Saravan, with Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi saying all the dead “were foreign nationals”.
Meanwhile, the White House on Thursday urged Iran and Pakistan to avoid escalating tensions after the two countries exchanged airstrikes on their territory.
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“We’re watching this very, very carefully. We don’t want to see an escalation, clearly in South and Central Asia, and we’re in contact with our Pakistani counterparts as you would expect,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
A question related to Pakistan-Iran tensions was also raised during the US State Department briefing.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US had not specifically discussed the Iranian strikes with Pakistan. “So we condemn these strikes. We have seen Iran violate the sovereign borders of three of its neighbors in the last few days,” he said.
He expressed hope for a peaceful solution to the conflict.
