AP explains: Raised tensions after Pakistan and Iran exchange airstrikes in border regions

(18 Jan 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem – 18 January 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Jon Gambrell, Associated Press News director for the Persian Gulf and Iran:
“Pakistan has launched retaliatory strikes on Iran. This just really raises the tension between these two countries, and it follows Iran launching its own strikes on Pakistan just days earlier. In this strike by Pakistan, on Iran there are some nine people who have been killed. And it struck the Sistan and Baluchestan province in Iran, and earlier, Iran had struck Pakistan’s Baluchestan province earlier this week, killing at least two people. Now, these back-and-forth strikes, in theory, are targeting Baluch militant groups, Baluch separatists who seek to have their own state in this region. But this also comes amid wider tensions that we see in the Middle East over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. From the Iranian side, they have been trying to avoid a direct confrontation with the United States and Israel, while still kind of keeping up their rhetoric and supporting proxy groups like Hezbollah, like Yemen’s Houthi rebels that have launched attacks in support of Hamas. Now, Iran also has been facing pressure internally within its theocracy to do something amid all these ongoing strikes in the war and Iran had launched strikes on Iraq and Syria before launching the strike on Pakistan to try to ease that tension within its ruling government, and particularly after it’s faced months-long protests over the theocracy. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, Pakistan has a very important general election coming up in February. Pakistan’s military also remains a really key political part of that, of that country, of that government, and they want to show that they’re able and capable to strike back, particularly as nuclear armed Pakistan still faces threats from its neighbor, nuclear-armed India. Now, as of right now, both sides are saying that or trying to say that they’re going to de-escalate. There’s talks going on between diplomats and regional countries are urging everyone to take the tension down a level. However, it just shows just how dangerous the situation is in the wider Middle East. I’m Jon Gambrell for the Associated Press in Jerusalem.
STORYLINE:
Pakistan’s air force launched retaliatory airstrikes early Thursday in Iran allegedly targeting militant hideouts, an attack that killed at least nine people and further raised tensions between the neighboring nations.

The tit-for-tat attacks Tuesday and Thursday appeared to target two Baluch militant groups with similar separatist goals on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border.

However, the two countries have accused each other of providing safe haven to the groups in their respective territories.

“These back-and-forth strikes, in theory, are targeting Baluch militant groups, Baluch separatists who seek to have their own state in this region. But this also comes amid wider tensions that we see in the Middle East over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip,” Jon Gambrell, the Associated Press News director for the Persian Gulf and Iran, explained.

The strikes imperil diplomatic relations between the two neighbors, as Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have long regarded each other with suspicion over militant attacks.

Each nation also faces its own internal political pressures — and the strikes may in part be in response to that.

Iran also staged airstrikes late Monday in Iraq and Syria over an Islamic State-claimed suicide bombing that killed over 90 people in early January.

However, the groups targeted in the days of strikes are different.

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