Tehran, Jan 18: Iran's foreign minister has said that the country's missile attack on areas in Pakistan adjacent to Iranian borders was directed at the so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group and no Pakistani national was targeted.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said members of the terrorist group are Iranians who have taken shelters in Pakistan and that Tehran had repeatedly warned Islamabad to prevent their anti-Iran cross-border operations.
"None of the nationals of the friendly and brotherly country of Pakistan were targeted by Iranian missiles and drones," he said.
"The so-called Jaish al-Adl group, which is an Iranian terrorist group, was targeted," he said, adding that this was a response to the recent attacks on Iran by the group, which he said is linked to Israel.
Jaish al-Adl, which was formed in 2012, has carried out several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years.
The group claimed responsibility for an attack in December on a police station in the southeastern city of Rask that killed at least 11 Iranian police officers. On January 10, another attack by the group on a police station in the city killed a policeman.
On Tuesday, Iran launched simultaneous drone and missile attacks into two bases of Jaish al-Adl.
The strike came after Iran launched missile attacks on spy headquarters and terrorist targets in Syria, and in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
‘Regional security’
The minister also touched on Iran’s attack into Iraq’s Kurdistan region, saying they were retaliation for recent anti-Iran attacks staged by Israel’s Mossad.
The Iranian minister said Tehran has shared intelligence with Iraq about Mossad activities in Iraq’s Kurdistan, adding that Israel is an enemy of both Iraq and Iran.
He cited a 2023 security pact between Iran and Iraq, saying it obliges Iraqi officials not to allow Iran’s security to be threatened from their soil.
The top Iranian diplomat said Iran respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan and Iraq but would strongly react to any attack on its national security.
"We respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan and Iraq, but we do not allow our national security to be compromised, and we have no compunction about [dealing with] terrorist parties inside Pakistan and Israeli movements in the Kurdistan region of Iraq."
He said the attacks were aimed at protecting the security of Iran, its neighbors, and also the wider region.
"What we did was aimed at boosting the security of Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, and the region. We consider the security of Iraq and Pakistan to be that of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Self-defence
New Delhi: After Iran carried out missile strikes on two camps of the terrorist group, Jaish al-Adl, in Pakistan, India on Wednesday stated that it understood actions taken by the countries in self-defence.
New Delhi also underlined its policy of zero-tolerance for terrorism.
“This is a matter between Iran and Pakistan,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said in New Delhi. “Insofar as India is concerned, we have an uncompromising position of zero tolerance towards terrorism. We understand actions that countries take in their self-defence.”
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