China urges Iran and Pakistan to exercise restraint following air strike

According to AFP, China on Wednesday has urged Pakistan and Iran to show restraint, after Islamabad denounced what it described as the unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran.

According to a statement released by the Foreign Office (FO) after midnight, strikes in Pakistani territory resulted in deaths of two innocent children while injuring of three girls.

While the Pakistan FO did not mention the location of the incident, Iranian state media said the attack took place in the border town of Panjgur in Balochistan.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said the focal point of this operation was the region known as Kouh-Sabz (green mountain) in Balochistan.

“Two key strongholds of the Jaysh al-Dhulm (Jaish al-Adl) terrorist group in Pakistan were specifically targeted and successfully demolished by a combination of missile and drone attacks”, the Tasnim news agency said.

Reports from the area suggested that a missile hit a mosque, partially damaging it and injuring some people.

According to AFP, hours before the attack, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar had met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Iran offered no immediate official comment but its state-run Nour News agency said the attack destroyed the Pakistan headquarters of the Jaish al-Adl.

Speaking at a regular briefing today, China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said, “We call on both sides to exercise restraint, avoid actions that would lead to an escalation of tension and work together to maintain peace and stability.”

“We consider both Iran and Pakistan as close neighbours and major Islamic countries,” she added.

It must be noted that both Iran and Pakistan are close partners of Beijing and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — a political and security union of countries spanning much of Eurasia, including China, India and Russia.

‘Unacceptable and condemnable’

In a post on social media platform X, caretaker Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai expressed disappointment and said terrorism was a common threat to all countries in the region that required coordinated action.

“Such acts of air space violations by Iran undermine neighbourly relation, trust and renewed trade linkages established with Balochistan,” he added.

Pakistan has acted with restraint whenever there’s been turbulence on the Pak-Iran border by terrorist groups, and always sought collective responses to the transnational challenge of terrorism.

Last month, at least 11 Iranian police officers were killed in an attack overnight on a police station in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan. Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, while visiting the site, had urged Pakistan to prevent terrorist groups from establishing bases within its borders, the official news agency of Iran reported at the time. He had also noted that initial investigations suggested the assailants had entered Iran from Pakistan.