IRGC’s Verbal Battle with the Government of Pakistan

Last week’s terrorist bombing in Iran’s Chahbahar town for which Jundullah group has claimed responsibility, brought out the wrath of some military officials in the Islamic republic directed at neighboring Pakistan.

roozonline, Following the bombing which left behind 39 dead and many wounded, senior officers of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) launched a verbal assault on the government of Pakistan, because they believe that is the country where the anti-Iranian terrorist group is based. The verbal attacks on Pakistan come just a few months after the Islamic republic of Iran rounded up Abdolmalek Riggi, the purported head of Jundullah with help from the Pakistani authorities, and then hanged him, repeatedly proclaiming the event to be a heroic victory for the ministry of intelligence and declaring the ministry’s supremacy in the region. In contrast, last week’s deadly explosion brought no victory messages from the ministry other than sheer silence.

Now with failure to root out Jundullah, military officials in the Islamic republic have launched a verbal assault on the government of Pakistan, asserting that is where Jundullah is based. According to Raja News, seyed Hassan Firuzabadi, the chairman of Iran’s Supreme Armed Forces Command who is recognized as the highest military official in the Islamic republic, told its reporter: “If Pakistan continues to fall short of controlling terrorist activities at its borders we shall utilize our legitimate rights,” language that indicates direct intervention. He continued, “The brotherly country of Pakistan is viewed as a friendly country to the Islamic republic of Iran, but unfortunately it is not controlling and preventing terrorists. Terrorist acts committed at the border call us to reconsider the relevant issues.”

Another Iranian news organization Javan Online which is affiliated to the IRGC, Firuzabadi’s deputy Gholamali Rashid also had some threatening words and talked of “crushing the terrorist outside Iranian borders.” “This counter-revolutionary group which is based in Pakistan and is supported from there must be pursued and crushed in Pakistani territory, which is the only way to confront it,” he said. He even went further and declared that the IRGC had the capability to launch operations inside Pakistan: “The ground forces of the IRGC have the capability to do this.”

In addition to these two military authorities, Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of IRGC’s ground forces too joined in and added his threats. “We know that the terrorist groups are inside Pakistan but they are guided by intelligence services from outside the region. Currently, cooperation with Pakistan to confront these terrorist groups is not good enough,” he warned.

It should be noted that these threatening and remarks by senior Iranian military authorities come at a time when the foreign ministry of Iran has not responded to these events and not even summoned the ambassador of Pakistan to Tehran to lodge a formal protest.

The only non-military official who had something to say about this was the spokesperson for the national security and foreign affairs committee of the Majlis, Iran’s parliament, who told reporters as reported by Mehr news agency, “Some terrorist groups are based in Pakistan and receive the necessary training there, which must be confronted by the appropriate agencies and the diplomatic machinery of the country. Mere diplomatic shuttles are not enough for this and certainly an ultimatum must be issued to the government of Pakistan to itself undertake to destroy the terrorist training centers there.” But he went further and added, “If the Pakistani government does not take steps to destroy the terrorist training centers, then the Islamic republic of Iran has the right to make conditions insecure for the terrorist and protect the security of its citizens.”

It should be noted that despite all these machinations, the government of Pakistan has till now not made any comments over the remarks of Iranian military authorities.