US denounces Iranian airstrike on Pakistan

The United States has strongly condemned a string of missile strikes by Iran inside Pakistan, Iraq and Syria, which Tehran has claimed were carried out against "anti-Iranian terrorist groups", reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

In his daily news briefing in Washington on Wednesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters: "So we do condemn those strikes. We've seen Iran violate the sovereign borders of three of its neighbours in just the past couple of days."

Reacting to Tehran's unilateral action of violating Pakistani airspace, Islamabad Wednesday warned the neighbouring country of stern consequences and announced expelling the Iranian ambassador while recalling its envoy from Tehran. "Pakistan has decided to recall its ambassador from Iran and that the Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan who is currently visiting Iran may not return for the time being," Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said while addressing a press briefing in Islamabad.

Responding to the development, Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani told his Irani counterpart that no country should follow its path of launching an attack on a neighbouring nation's soil against the menace of terrorism unilaterally. "No country in the region should tread this perilous path," Jilani told Iran’s FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian during a telephone call hours after Tehran claimed it had targeted "terrorists" in Pakistan.

On January 17, Tehran targeted the bases of, what it claimed was a terrorist organisation — Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) — inside Pakistani territory, "Green Mountain" with drones and missiles, and destroyed the headquarters of the said terrorist group, according to the Iran's state media.

However, the FO spokesperson said the assault left two children killed and three others wounded.

The Iranian strikes come as the Middle East has been rocked by the Israel-Gaza crisis, and attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia on ships in the Red Sea.

In Washington, Miller said: “I think it is a little rich for, on one hand, Iran to be the leading funder of terrorism in the region, the leading funder of instability in the region, and on the other hand, claimed that it needs to take these actions to counter terrorism.”

He noted that the only reason US forces are in Iraq is at the invitation of the Iraqi government. "And you've seen us take action against the Houthis, which we have done as part of an international coalition and after a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the Houthis for their attacks on commercial shipping," he said.