Iran entitled to destroy terrorists’ hideout in Pakistan: commander

EghtesadOnline: A senior Iranian military commander says the country reserves the right to destroy the lairs of terrorists in Pakistan following a recent terrorist crime against Iranian border guards serving on the country’s southeastern frontier.

News ID: ۷۴۱۴۵۰

10 May 2017

“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran condemn such measures and if the Pakistani government does not take serious measures, they (Iranian forces) reserve the absolute and legal right to resolutely counter and destroy the lairs of terrorists however deep inside the neighboring country’s soil,” Iranian Army’s Ground Forces Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said on Tuesday.

He added that Iranian Armed Forces would spare no efforts to safeguard the country’s security, PressTV reported.

The commander said the terrorist attack near the town of Mirjaveh against the Iranian border guards, who were confident of Pakistan controlling its border areas based on the border protocols, lacked any operational value and was not regarded as a success but “indicated the weakness of Pakistan.”

On April 26, 11 Iranian border guards were killed in clashes near Mirjaveh in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan. The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which was launched from the Pakistani soil. The assailants escaped into Pakistani territory immediately after the attack.

In a telephone conversation with Pakistani Federal Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli called on Pakistan to take swift measures to improve security along its borders with Iran.

Rahmani Fazli said Islamabad should prevent the infiltration of terrorists into Iran, smuggling of narcotics and illegal crossing into Iran by Afghan nationals from the Pakistani border.