Iran and Pakistan normalize diplomatic situation – DW – 01/22/2024

“In a telephone conversation between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, both sides agreed that the ambassadors of the two countries will return to their posts between now and January 26,” they said in a joint statement.

“At the invitation of Pakistan Foreign Minister Khalil Abbas Jilani, his Iranian counterpart Amir Abdullahiyan will visit Islamabad on January 29,” the statement said.

On Wednesday, Pakistan had recalled its ambassador to Tehran for consultations and announced that the Iranian ambassador, who was in the country at the time, would not be able to return to Islamabad.

The decision came after Iran attacked a “terrorist” group on Pakistani soil with missiles and drones. Pakistan responded to that attack by bombing other rebel groups in Iran.

According to officials, the two attacks resulted in a total of eleven deaths, mostly women and children.

The two countries, which have never before launched such major attacks on their neighboring region, have been facing a decades-long insurgency in the Balochistan region on either side of their shared border.

After a sudden increase in tensions, both sides announced on Friday that they had agreed to de-escalate the climate crisis.

The exchange of bombings angered the international community, following Iran’s attacks on other targets in Syria and Iraq last week and amid tensions in the region caused by the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

RML (AFP, RD, dpa)