BEIJING: China has said it is willing to mediate between Pakistan and Iran after the recent developments between the two sides.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press briefing in Beijing that her side sincerely hopes that the two nations can exercise calm and restraint and avoid an escalation of tension.
She said that China is willing to play a constructive role to de-escalate the situation if both countries so wish.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday’s morning struck terrorist hideouts in Iran’s Sistan-o-Baluchistan province, less than 48 hours following Iran violated Pakistan’s airspace.
The Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that a number of terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’. Iran’s media also reported that nine people, including “non-Iranian citizens”, were killed in the strike targeting a village near the city of Saravan.
The Foreign Office statement said Pakistan undertook a series of “highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes” against terrorist hideouts in Iran’s Sistan-o-Baluchistan.
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In a press briefing later on Thursday, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan’s Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, who is currently in Switzerland for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), had taken a decision to cut short his trip “in light of the developments”.
