Zarif to Hold Talks with Pakistani FM on Saravan Terrorist Attack
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that he will call his Pakistani counterpart to discuss the recent terrorist attack in Iran's southeastern city of Saravan.
On Friday evening, a group of armed men carried out an ambush attack on a border post in Gazbostan, near Iran’s southeastern city of Saravan, on the border with Pakistan which has almost no control over its side of the shared frontier with Iran.
Fourteen Iranian border guards were killed and six were wounded in the terrorist attack.
In a message posted on his Facebook page on Monday, Zarif condoled with the dear families of martyrs and the great Iranian nation over the "painful disaster", and announced his intention to call the Pakistani foreign minister over the issue.
Zarif also referred to Saravan event as an "example of the international terrorism and a symbol of the expansion of extremism."
“Extremism and terrorism have no boundaries. In today's world, security is not an isolated issue, and thus, we have no way but to contribute to the establishment of regional security in a bid to preserve and safeguard our country’s security."
A senior Iranian provincial security official said Sunday Pakistan has failed to fulfill its commitments about joint security cooperation along its border with Iran.
Deputy Governor General of Sistan and Balouchestan Province for Political and Security Affairs Rajabali Shiekhzadeh said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency in provincial capital city of Zahedan that Iran and Pakistan boarder commitments oblige the two countries to cooperate in security fields, but "unfortunately Pakistan has not acted satisfactorily in that respect."
He said that the Iranian Foreign Ministry, too, must in the framework of the international conventions and joint meetings on border issues pursue the implementation of the required security measures on the part of Pakistan "so that in the future we would not witness any such incidents in Iran."
Sheikhzadeh also complained about Pakistan's apparent foot dragging over improving border security, saying despite previous attacks on Iranian forces from the Pakistani side of the shared border, it has failed to keep its side of the bargain.
