Iran has summoned the Pakistan’s envoy to protest over a suicide attack that killed 27 of its elite Revolutionary Guards in the Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Pakistan.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said on Sunday that Iran “explicitly conveyed” to Pakistan’s ambassador Rafat Masoud that Tehran expects Islamabad and its military “to make a serious and decisive action” against the Jaish al-Adl and its base inside its territory, Al Jazeera reported.
Ghasemi also said that the foreign ministry asked Pakistan to take “immediate and necessary measures” to identify and arrest the attackers, who carried out Wednesday’s bombing, which also left 13 Revolutionary Guard members injured.
Masoud took over her post as Pakistan’s first female ambassador to Iran in August.
The diplomatic protest comes as Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani said in a strongly-worded statement that the Pakistan government should be held to account for the incident.
“The Pakistan government should be accountable for this act involving the group orchestrating and conducting the operation from their territory,” Larijani said during Sunday’s session of parliament.
Larijani said Pakistan “cannot act irresponsibly”, adding that “such behaviour will severely damage the level of cooperation” between the neighbouring countries.
Speaking at an event in Hormozgan province on Sunday, President Hassan Rouhani also repeated his earlier threat to avenge the attack, saying he “regrets” the “wrong policies” of Iran’s neighbours, without mentioning Pakistan.
