RFE/RL reports:

Iran has condemned what it called a “disproportionate and unacceptable” attack by Pakistan on its territory, which came in response to an Iranian strike, raising fears of escalating military exchanges between the two neighbors.

While criticizing Islamabad for the scale of the attack, Iran’s Foreign Ministry also appeared to try and allay concerns of rising tensions, striking a conciliatory tone in its statement on January 18 by referring to Pakistan as a “friend and brother.”

Pakistani warplanes launched air strikes early on January 18 on alleged militant targets in Iran, an attack that Tehran said killed at least nine people, including six children and two women, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires in response to the attack, the first by another country on Iranian soil since the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.

The strikes in Sistan-Baluchistan Province came after an attack by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan Province on January 16 that killed two children.

In a statement on January 18, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern with “recent developments that started” with Iran’s attacks against targets in Iraq on January 16 before it attacked Pakistan. [Continue reading…]