Iran has fought in border areas against the militants, but a missile-and-drone attack on Pakistan was unprecedented. Iranian reports described the strikes as happening in the mountains of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. Baluchistan has faced a low-level insurgency by Baluch nationalists for more than two decades. Baluch nationalists initially wanted a share of provincial resources, but later initiated an insurgency for independence.

The attack came even as Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. What the men discussed was not immediately clear.

Pakistan became the second of Iran’s neighbours in two days to complain of an airstrike by the Islamic Republic on its soil in 24 hours.

Iraq criticised a deadly attack on what Tehran said was an Israeli spy base on Iraqi soil by the Revolutionary Guards on Monday. Iran said its attack was revenge for the Israeli assassination of one of its commanders in Syria.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani, in an interview in Davos on Tuesday, said the attack was “a clear act of aggression”.

Sudani’s comment suggests tensions are on the rise throughout the region, as Israel’s war against Hamas passes the 100-day mark.

Iran long has suspected Sunni-majority Pakistan as hosting insurgents, possibly at the behest of its regional archrival Saudi Arabia. However, Iran and Saudi Arabia reached a Chinese-mediated détente last March, easing tensions.

The attack on Pakistan come as Tehran lashes out following a dual suicide bombing this month claimed by the Sunni militant group Islamic State that killed over 90 people.

US strikes

Meanwhile, the US launched a new strike against the Yemen-based Houthis, hitting anti-ship missiles in the third assault on the Iranian-backed group in recent days, the US military said.

According to a US Central Command statement, the overnight strike destroyed four Houthi ballistic missiles that were prepared to launch and presented an imminent threat to merchant and US Navy ships in the region.

Earlier the Iranian-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile attack against the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Zografia, also on Tuesday, in the Red Sea.

The ship was hit, but no one was injured. The vessel had been heading north to the Suez Canal when it was attacked, the Greek Shipping and Island Policy Ministry said.

This latest exchange suggested there has been no let-up in Houthi attacks on shipping in the region, despite the massive US and British assault on the group last week. They bombed more than 60 targets in 28 locations using warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets.

Bloomberg, AP

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