Pakistan does not wish to escalate the standoff with Iran, the country's foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said as Islamabad's top leadership gathered to review the situation after both countries exchanged strikes on each other's territory. Pakistan's caretaker PM Anwaar ul Haq Kakar met with all the military services chiefs in attendance, news agency Reuters reported, adding that the meeting aims at a “broad national security review in the aftermath of the Iran-Pakistan incidents”.
The strikes are the highest-profile cross-border intrusions in recent years which have raised alarm about wider instability in the Middle East amid Israel's Hamas war in Gaza. As both sides have already signalled a desire to cool tensions, Pakistan's foreign minister told his Turkish counterpart, “Pakistan has no interest or desire in escalation.”
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Iran said the strikes killed nine people in a border village on its territory, including four children while Pakistan said that the Iranian attack in its territory killed two children.
United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres urged the two nations to exercise maximum restraint while US president Joe Biden said that the clashes showed that Iran is not well liked in the region.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Islamabad had the right to defend itself but called for dialogue with Iran moving ahead. Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan also condemned Iran, but termed the strikes on Pakistan a failure of the caretaker government. We seek "an immediate explanation from the unconstitutional, illegal, unrepresentative and unelected government for its complete failure to safeguard the integrity, security and defence of Pakistan," Imran Khan's party said in a statement.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, former Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Islamabad had the right to defend itself but called for dialogue with Iran moving ahead. Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan also condemned Iran, but termed the strikes on Pakistan a failure of the caretaker government. We seek "an immediate explanation from the unconstitutional, illegal, unrepresentative and unelected government for its complete failure to safeguard the integrity, security and defence of Pakistan," Imran Khan's party said in a statement.
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