On January 18, a Pakistani security official told CNN that the country has targeted seven points inside Iran in retaliatory attacks.
Reuters news agency, citing a statement from the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported that Pakistan has targeted separatist militants through a series of coordinated and precise military attacks on Iranian soil, killing a number of terrorists.
The ministry described the objective of the attacks as ensuring the security and national interests of Pakistan while fully respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran.
On the other hand, news agencies in Iran reported on Thursday morning, citing Alireza Marhamati, the security and law enforcement deputy of Sistan and Baluchestan Governorate, that in the missile attack from Pakistan on the area of Saravan County, nine people were killed, including two men, three women, and four children.
According to Marhamati, they were non-Iranian. Minister of Interior Ahmad Vahidi confirmed these figures and emphasized that the victims were non-Iranian as well.
Marhamati also told the Young Journalists Club that several missiles from Pakistan hit a border village in Saravan.
“An explosion also occurred near Saravan County, but we have had no casualties there,” Marhamati added.
Photos posted on social media confirm that civilians were killed in the attacks. Users also reported that the civilians were locals and the victims included women and children.
Meanwhile, Naser Kanaani, the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while “condemning” Pakistan’s actions, stated that the chargé d’affaires of the Pakistani Embassy in Tehran will be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
An informed source, in an interview with the Iranian regime’s state TV, strongly condemned these attacks and said that the Iranian government demands an immediate explanation from Pakistani authorities regarding this incident.
Shortly before Iranian authorities confirmed the attacks on Iranian soil, a page affiliated with the Pakistani army on X posted a message announcing that the terrorist bases in Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran, had been targeted, causing heavy damage.
Saravan is located in Sistan and Baluchestan, 347 kilometers southeast of the province’s capital, Zahedan, and is adjacent to Pakistan.
These attacks took place two days after the missile and drone attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Pakistani soil, claiming to target positions of the armed group Jaish ul-Adl in that country.
In a statement on January 16, the Pakistani government condemned Iran’s attack on its territory and announced that two innocent children were killed and three girls were injured in the attack.
Pakistan also recalled its ambassador from Tehran as a protest and canceled all meetings between high-ranking officials of Pakistan and Iranian authorities.
On Wednesday, January 17, the Public Relations Office of the Quds Base in southeastern Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced in a statement the killing of one of its members named Hossein Ali Javdanfar due to gunfire in Sistan and Baluchestan Province.
The Quds Base of the Revolutionary Guards introduced Hossein Ali Javdanfar as one of the “cultural experts of the Quds Base” with an “administrative mission” to “follow up on cultural activities” during his trip to Saravan County.
The Haalvash website, which covers news related to Sistan and Baluchestan, referred to the killed member of the Revolutionary Guards as the “deputy of the Saravan Quds Base” who was killed by armed individuals on the Saravan-Khash route.
So far, no individual or group has claimed responsibility for these attacks.
The Iranian regime resorts to terrorist activities in the region as a cover-up for its internal problems. These terrorist acts are mostly carried out by proxy groups of the Iranian regime, such as the Houthis and Hezbollah. After the October 7 attack and the ensuing war in Gaza, the Iranian regime has intensified such actions, and in recent weeks, it has conducted attacks in northern Iraq and Pakistan, resulting in the killing of non-combatants.
In all cases, civilians are caught in the crossfire of the regime’s warmongering activities in the region.
