Turkey urges calm as Pakistan, Iran exchange strikes

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said he spoke with his Iranian and Pakistani counterparts on Thursday to urge calm and to offer Turkey’s help to ease tensions after retaliatory airstrikes by Pakistan into Iran.

Speaking at a news conference in Amman, Jordan, Fidan said: “Our region does not need more problems and conflicts... We have been following the developments between Pakistan and Iran with concern.”

“We, as Turkey, recommended that the issue does not escalate further and urge that calm be restored as soon as possible.” Fidan said both the Iranian and Pakistani ministers told him that they did not want an escalation and the situation “was under control.”

“I hope that the issue between two brotherly nations does not escalate,” Fidan said. “We will continue to do whatever falls on us to reduce the tension between Pakistan and Iran.”

The attacks Tuesday and Thursday appeared to target separate Baluch militant groups that the two countries have alleged find safe havens in the other.

The attack early Thursday killed at least nine people and further raised tensions between the neighbouring nations.

The strikes in Sistan-Baluchistan province follow Iran’s attack Tuesday on Pakistani soil that killed two children in the southwestern Baluchistan province.