Tehran: The Iranian government has threatened to take action against Pakistan government and the terror groups operating from the country. General Qassem Soleimani, the all powerful commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, issued stern warnings to the Pakistani government and its military establishment. “I have this question for the Pakistani government: where are you heading to? You have caused unrest along borders with all your neighbours and do you have any other neighbour left that you want to stir insecurity for,” Gen Soleimani was recently quoted as saying. “Are you, who have atomic bombs, unable to destroy a terrorist group with several hundred members in the region?” he asked, adding that Pakistan should not test Iran’s resolve.
India and Iran have enhanced their counter-terrorism cooperation in recent years. This will top discussions between the two countries when the next round of foreign office consultations are scheduled. Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale was scheduled to travel to Iran over the weekend but the trip was postponed due to the India-Pakistan crisis.
Iran has said that at least three Pakistani citizens were among the assailants responsible for killing 27 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on February 13. Militant group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), which Tehran says operates mostly out of bases in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. Chairman of the Iranian parliament’s foreign policy commission Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh was also quoted as saying that Iran wanted to build a wall on its border with Pakistan, and promised Tehran would take action inside Pakistan if it was incapable of doing so to stop crossborder attacks into Iran.
Even the top aide of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, went on record to castigate Pakistan. This is significant because it is a sign that Iran’s supreme leader wants the message to go out to Pakistan. Ali Jafari, commander of the IRGC, also warned Pakistan against supporting terror. “Pakistan should know that it should pay the cost for the Pakistani intelligence organisation’s support for Jeish al-Zolm (as Jaish al-Adl is called in Iran) from now on and this price will no doubt be very heavy for them," he said.
