ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has warned Iran of dire consequences after Tehran violated Pakistani airspace, killing two Pakistanis and injuring another, a foreign ministry statement said on Wednesday.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran, which resulted in the death of two innocent children and injuries to three girls,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement.
Iran’s state media claimed that it had targeted the terrorist organization’s bases in Pakistan with drones and missiles and destroyed the headquarters of the said terrorist group.
The targeted Pakistani area is called “Green Mountain”, according to Iranian state media.
A Foreign Office spokesperson termed this violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty as completely unacceptable and could have serious consequences.
Baloch said it was even more disturbing that this illegal act took place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran.
“Pakistan’s strong protest has already been lodged with the relevant senior official at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran,” the spokesman noted.
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She further said that Iran’s chargé d’affaires has been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to strongly condemn this flagrant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and that the responsibility for the consequences will fall squarely on Iran.
“Pakistan has always maintained that terrorism is a common threat to all countries in the region that requires coordinated action. Such unilateral actions are not in line with good neighborly relations and can seriously undermine bilateral trust,” the spokeswoman added.
Separately, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched missile attacks on numerous “terrorist” targets in Syria and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, according to state media.
The strikes destroyed an “espionage headquarters” and a “gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups” in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, the official IRNA news agency said, citing an IRGC statement.
Four people were killed and six others wounded in the attack, according to the Iraqi Kurdistan Security Council.
The United States condemned the attacks as “reckless” and warned that they undermined stability.
“We oppose Iran’s reckless missile attacks that undermine the stability of Iraq,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
In response, Iraq said it had recalled its ambassador from Tehran for consultations.
Ambassador Nassir Abdel Mohsen was “recalled for consultations in connection with the latest Iranian attacks on (the regional capital) Arbil, which left them dead and injured,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Iraq’s national security adviser, Qassem al-Araji, has dismissed as “false” Iran’s claim that it hit an Israeli intelligence base in an overnight rocket attack on the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil.
