U.S., China urge calm as Pakistan, Iran look to ease tensions

Diplomats from Washington to Beijing asked Pakistan and Iran to show restraint after the two nations engaged in back-and-forth missile strikes, with both sides showing signs they don’t want tensions to escalate.

“We have repeatedly said Iran is a friend,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said by phone on Friday. “We do not want an escalation and we also got similar kind of sentiments from their side. So we are taking it further.”

The statement came after the U.S., China and a chorus of nations called on the two Muslim nations to stop the situation from spiraling out of control at a time of rising turmoil in the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war. The Biden administration spoke out after Pakistan’s army responded to an attack by Iran on militant hideouts with its own missile strikes.

“We don’t want to see this conflict escalated in any way, shape, or form,” Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, said at a news briefing on Thursday. “There’s no need for escalation, and we would urge restraint on all sides in this case.”

Miller’s comments came after China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing was tracking the developments and urged the two countries to avoid making matters worse. China, an economic and military ally of Pakistan and Iran, has been seeking to expand its geopolitical reach.

The tit-for-tat missile attacks began earlier this week when Tehran launched air strikes against Jaish al-Adl, a separatist group based in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Beyond its own retaliatory strikes, Pakistan also downgraded its diplomatic ties with Iran.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both countries to address their security issues peacefully. Pakistan and Iran share a porous frontier dominated by militant groups including Jaish al-Adl. It has launched multiple attacks on Iranian security forces, most recently a December assault on a police station that killed 11 people.

After this week’s flare-up, Turkey offered to help defuse tensions, with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan shuttling through calls with his Pakistani and Iranian counterparts. Taliban-ruled Afghanistan also asked Pakistan and Iran, both of which it borders, to resolve their differences through diplomatic channels.

The strikes hit less than a month before Pakistan heads into national elections on Feb. 8. Interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar cut short his visit to Davos as the crisis unfolded. He is expected to chair the Pakistani cabinet and national security committee meetings later Friday to discuss security issues, local media reported.

Pakistan’s major rival, India, was silent on the retaliatory strikes Thursday, although Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman with India’s External Affairs Ministry, said after Iran’s action that “We understand the actions that countries take in their self defense.”

–With assistance from Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Eltaf Najafizada and Kamran Haider.