Tehran, October 21: Tehran will step up diplomatic pressure on Islamabad to rein in US-backed militants allegedly operating from Pakistan, Iranian analysts said Wednesday.
However, the friendly ties that exist between the neighbours are unlikely to be affected in the long term by Sunday’s attack against Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran, the analysts said.
Tehran claims those who carried out the attack, which killed 57 people including 15 Guards, snuck across the border from Pakistan with the support of the intelligence services of Pakistan, Britain and the United States.
Iranian officials have said that Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi is in Pakistan and have demanded he be handed over. Pakistani officials say he is not in the country.
“In the coming days, Iran will put more pressure on Pakistan for quick results since it has to answer people at home,” said Akbar Montajabi, a reformist political analyst.
A day after the attack, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari that the presence of US-backed militants in his country was not “justifiable” and they needed to be “quickly confronted.”
Iran’s foreign and intelligence ministers on Tuesday further ramped up pressure on Islamabad, urging it to take swift action against the rebels.
Islamabad has said the attack was carried out by forces out to “spoil ties” between the two neighbours but dismissed Tehran’s claim its territory was being used as a springboard for attacks inside Iran.
Iran and Pakistan enjoy friendly relations with both the nations regularly participating in political and economic conferences, especially those aimed at stabilising their violence-wracked joint neighbour, Afghanistan.
The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned the attack in Iran.
Sunday’s attack had been condemned “in the strongest terms,” said Le Luong Minh, ambassador of council president Vietnam.
Members “underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism to justice and urged all states… to cooperate actively with the Iranian authorities in this regard.”
Iran’s UN ambassador, Mohammed Khazaee, had earlier Tuesday urged the Security Council to issue a statement condemning the attack.
“Most surely such a condemnation would convey a strong message to this terrorist group and its supporters that terrorism could not be tolerated wherever and by whomever and in whatever form it is committed,” he said.
Meanwhile, a prosecutor said three Iranians have been arrested over the attack that hit the heart of Iran’s security apparatus and that a man who accompanied the suicide bomber was being sought.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon had already issued a statement on Monday condemning the suicide attack.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini on Monday pointed a finger of blame at the United States, ISNA news agency reported.
“This terrorists’ crime revealed the evil face of enemies of security and unity who are supported by intelligence organisations of some arrogant governments,” he said, using the Islamic republic’s term for the United States.
“The powerful hand of the the Islamic government will punish the invaders of people’s security for their treacherous actions,” he vowed.
—Agencies