Iran, Pakistan return envoys amid de-escalation weeks after missile strikes

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN (AA) - After accepting credentials Saturday from the new Pakistani ambassador to Tehran, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the border between the two countries should be protected against insecurity.

Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, the new envoy, arrived in Tehran earlier this week after the two countries agreed to de-escalate tensions in the wake of missile strikes earlier this month.

The border is an “opportunity for economic exchange and security promotion and should be protected against any insecurity,” Raisi was quoted by state news agency, IRNA.

He urged “effective steps” to develop ties between the two countries.

Earlier Saturday, Raisi’s deputy chief of staff, Mohammad Jamshidi in a post on X, said the Iranian president told the new envoy that “the security of Pakistan is our security.”

“Our brotherly relations are rooted in the common civilization and religion. It’s the US that benefits from terrorism. Our borders are opportunity, not threat,” he quoted the president.

In a social media post, Tipu said he came to Tehran with "sincere and good wishes" of Pakistan's leadership and it was time to "turn a new leaf."

Iran's ambassador to Islamabad Reza Amiri Moqaddam has also resumed his duties in Islamabad, Rasoul Mousavi, the head of the South Asian Affairs department at Iran's Foreign Ministry, said Friday.

Earlier this month, relations between Iran and Pakistan almost broke down after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) launched a barrage of missiles on Pakistan’s border region, claiming to target the bases of Jaish al-Adl, an Iranian militant group.

Pakistan condemned the strikes and retaliated with a missile strike on Iran’s border province of Sistan-Baluchestan, which it claimed was to target an anti-Pakistan militant group.

In a joint statement, Iran and Pakistan said Monday they agreed to send back their ambassadors, who had been recalled amid the tension.

The decision was made in a telephone call between Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Pakistani counterpart, Jalil Abbas Jilani.

Amir-Abdollahian is expected to visit Islamabad on Jan. 29 at the invitation of Jilani.