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NATION                                                              JANUARY 26, 2024       |  The Indian Eye                    6


                  Did the US give a greenlight




                to Pakistan for its retaliatory





                                      strike inside Iran?





           New Delhi reacts to Iranian action by saying India has a complete zero tolerance for terrorism

                             and understands the actions that countries take in their self-defence



        OUR BUREAU
        New Delhi/Washington, DC
            n a military move that can change the entire dy-
            namics in the West Asian region, Iran attacked
        Ithe headquarters of a terrorist group opposed
        to Tehran with drones and missiles inside Pakistan
        territory on late hours of Tuesday. Pakistan’s Min-
        istry of Foreign Affairs said that the violation of
        Pakistan’s sovereignty is “completely unacceptable”
        and warned of serious consequences. It further said
        that Iran has taken this action despite the existence
        of several channels of communication between the
        two nations.
            Now,  Islamabad  and  Tehran  have  sought  to
        de-escalate tensions after Pakistan launched retal-
        iatory strikes inside Iran on Thursday, threatening
        a full-scale conflict between the two neighbors, as
        per officials and diplomatic sources, as reported by
        The Express Tribune.
            Pakistan  after  conducting  the  missile  strikes
        sent a reconciliation message to Iran and told the
        neighboring country that it had no interest in fur-
        ther escalating the tensions. As per The Express
        Tribune, a Pakistan-based newspaper, with three   Iran’s revolutionary guards launched a missile and drone strike on terrorist hideouts inside Pakistan on Tuesday (ANI)
        key  regional  players  working  behind  the  scenes,
        Tehran indicated that it was ready to lower the ten-
        sions too.                                    an uncompromising position of zero tolerance to-  we have spoken a number of times, we’ve focused
            The  Iranian  Foreign  Ministry  on  Thursday   wards terrorism. We understand actions that coun-  on. We’ve been incredibly concerned about the po-
        evening  issued  a  statement  stating  that  Tehran   tries take in their self-defense.”  tential for escalation since October 7.”
        “adheres to its policy of good neighborly ties with   But, the US on Thursday evaded a question   “That’s why we have engaged in intense diplo-
        Pakistan”. One Pakistani official said: “We hope   on  whether  Pakistan  held  prior  consultations   matic efforts to try to prevent escalation. We not-
        the worst is over.”                           with Washington before conducting retaliatory air   ed the comments from the government of Pakistan,
            Iran’s  strikes  in  Pakistan  came  after  Iran’s   strikes on Iran. On media reports claiming Paki-  about  the  importance  of  cooperative  relations
        Islamic  Revolutionary  Guard  Corps  (IRGC)   stan consulted the US before conducting strikes   between Pakistan and its neighbors. We thought
        launched missiles into Iraq’s Kurdistan region at   in Iran, State Department Spokesperson Matthew   those were productive useful statements, and cer-
        what it called an Israeli “spy headquarters” and   Miller, during a regular press briefing in Washing-  tainly, there’s no need for escalation and we would
        at alleged ISIS-linked targets in Syria, Al Arabiya   ton, said, “I do not have any private conversations   urge restraint on all sides in this case,” he added.
        News reported.                                to read out.”                                   Matthew  Miller  called  Iran  a  major  funder
            In response, Pakistan on Thursday launched   Miller said the US is concerned about the es-  of Hezbollah and a principal supporter of Hamas
        missile strikes into Iran and codenamed it Opera-  calating tensions in the region and has urged re-  for  years.  In  another  query  about  the  ongoing
        tion ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’.                    straint on all sides. He said there is no need for   tensions between Iran and Pakistan after strikes
            In the meanwhile, in a major gesture, Ministry   escalation in the matter and that the country has   and counterstrikes, Miller said, “I think I made
        of External Affairs official spokesperson Randhir   noted the Pakistani government’s comments about   pretty clear yesterday what we think about Iran’s
        Jaiswal said in an official statement over the Irani-  the importance of “cooperative relations between   attacks, not just the strikes that were launched in
        an airstrikes in Pakistan that India has a complete   Pakistan and its neighbors.          the past three days against three of its neighbors
        zero tolerance for terrorism and understands the   In response to a question on how the US ad-  but its long history of funding terrorism, funding
        actions that countries take in their self-defence,  ministration reads the situation between Iran and   instability and sowing discord in the Middle East.
            He said, “This is a matter between Iran and   Pakistan, Miller said, “We are concerned about es-  That’s something we have seen contribute to con-
        Pakistan. Insofar as India is concerned, we have   calating tensions in the region. It’s been something   flict in Gaza.”


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