Joe Biden confirmed that Pakistan’s attacks show that the Iranian regime is “not liked very much in the region”.

us President, Joe Bidensaid on Thursday that the air strikes Pakistan And Iran’s move into each other’s territory shows that Tehran is not “much loved” in the increasingly tense region.

“as you can see, Iran is not much liked in this region“We are working to understand how the situation will unfold,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

Pakistani Air Force reportedly carried out retaliatory strikes targeting Iran early Thursday Rebel hideouts. bombing killed at least nine people And the already considerable tension between the two neighboring countries increased.

Influence in the Iranian province of Sistan And Balochistan They followed an Iranian attack on Pakistani soil on Tuesday that killed two children in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan.

The bombings on Tuesday and Thursday appear to have targeted separate Baloch armed groups with similar separatist goals on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border. Both countries have accused each other of harboring groups operating in their respective territories.

Military operations complicated relations between the two countries. Suspicion has persisted for a long time between nuclear-armed Iran and Pakistan. militia attack In the zone. Each country faces its own internal pressures, which may influence military intervention.

The incident also happened during this time Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza StripWhich has shaken the Middle East. Iran carried out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on Monday night in response to suicide bombings claimed by Islamic State that killed nearly 90 people this month.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry described its bombings as “a series of highly coordinated and precisely targeted military attacks”.

“This morning’s action was taken in the light of credible information Imminent large-scale terrorist activitiesthe ministry said in a statement. “This action is a statement of Pakistan’s unwavering determination to protect and defend its national security against all threats.”

The Pakistani military said it had used a variety of drones, rockets and missiles that could be launched from aircraft at a considerable distance from the target, which probably meant that the Pakistani warplanes did not enter Iranian airspace. .

Acting Prime Minister of Pakistan, anwarul-haq-kakarAccording to , who was in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, he cut short his trip to return home. Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs. Also the Foreign Minister, Jalil Abbas JilaniWas returning from a trip to Uganda.

A deputy governor of the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, Ali Raza MarhamatiIt said three women, four children and two men were killed in the attack near the town of Sarwan, bordering Pakistan. He said those killed were not Iranian citizens and acknowledged another explosion near Saravan.

The Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist group that has been active in the region since 2000, said in a statement that its men had been hit and killed in the attacks.

“Pakistan will have to pay the price for this”, the group warned. “Now the Baloch Liberation Army will not remain silent. “We will take revenge and declare war against the state of Pakistan.”

Pakistan called its operation “Marg Bar Sarmachar”. In Iranian Persian, “Marg Bar” means “death”, and it is a common expression since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, used against the United States and Israel. In the local Baloch language, “Sarmachar” means guerrilla, and is a term used by terrorists operating in the border region.

Baluch nationalists have maintained a low-level insurgency in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, as well as the neighboring Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, for more than two decades.

However, the groups identified in recent times are distinct. Jaish al-Adl, The Sunni separatist group attacked by Iran on Tuesday was born out of another Islamic extremist group, known as Jundallah, which it has been accused of having links to. al Qaeda, Jaish al-Adhal has long been suspected of operating from Pakistan and carrying out attacks against Iranian security forces.

For its part, the Baloch Liberation Army, which has no religious component and fights against Pakistani security forces and Chinese interests in the region, is suspected of hiding in Iran.

(With information from AFP and AP)