ALI HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran have agreed to deescalate the situation and move towards normalization of ties after three days of tensions between the two neighbouring countries following Tehran strikes on “militant bases” in Panjgur, Balochistan, prompting Islamabad to launch retaliatory attacks against Baloch separatists’ hideouts across the border.

This was agreed in a fresh telephonic contact between the foreign ministers of the two countries following Pakistan decided to downgrade its ties with Iran on Wednesday by recalling its ambassador from Tehran and suspending all high-level engagements in response to Tuesday night’s “unprovoked and blatant breach” of the country’s sovereignty after Iran carried out strikes in Panjgur, Balochistan.

In a statement, Foreign Office said that caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani spoke with the Foreign Minister of Iran, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, a day after Pakistan carried out a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Sistan-Balochistan province of Iran in retaliation to Tehran’s violation of its airspace on Tuesday.

“The two Foreign Ministers agreed that working level cooperation and close coordination on counter terrorism and other aspects of mutual concern should be strengthened. They also agreed to de-escalate the situation,” read the statement.

Underscoring the close brotherly relations between Pakistan and Iran, the caretaker Foreign Minister expressed Pakistan’s desire to work with Iran based on spirit of mutual trust and cooperation. It added that the caretaker foreign minister stressed that respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty must underpin this cooperation. According to the statement, the return of ambassadors of the two countries to their respective capitals was also discussed.

The telephonic conversation was followed by a statement by Rasoul Mousavi, the General Director of the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s West Asia Department, on the social media platform, X, terming the conversation as “very good” to restore relations to a high level.

“FMs had a very good phone talk to restore relations to a high level. hoping that with my colleague’s help @rahimhayat [Rahim Hayat Qureshi, Additional Foreign Secretary for Afghanistan and West Asia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan], we can set a new record in de-escalation for the two brotherly & friendly countries by returning the ambassadors to the capitals & mutual visits of FMs,” Mousavi said.

This was the second such contact between the two foreign ministers in the last two days since the tension escalated in the aftermath of Iran’s Tuesday attacks inside Pakistani territory in Panjgur which was followed by retaliatory strikes on Thursday.

In a statement on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that he had a telephonic conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Jilani. “While pointing out the importance of continued cooperation and close communication between the officials of the two countries, I emphasized the respect of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the brotherly and neighboring country of Pakistan,” the Iranian foreign minister said.

“In the end, referring to the crimes of the terrorist group known as Jaish al-Adl inside Iran and also the threats of this terrorist movement against the citizens of the two countries, I stated that we consider the security of Pakistan to be the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Abdollahian said.