Pakistan, Iran agree to send back their ambassadors

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan and Iran have agreed to send back their ambassadors to their respective posts, reflecting a thaw in strained relations following an exchange of missile attacks on each other’s territories last week.

“Following the telephone conversation between the Foreign Ministers of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, it has been mutually agreed that ambassadors of both countries may return to their respective posts by 26 January 2024,” said a statement issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Monday.

It was also announced in the statement that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian will pay a visit to Pakistan on Jan. 29 at the invitation of his counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani.

Tensions between the two neighbors heightened last week when Iran claimed to have struck a “terrorist hideout” in the border town of Panjgur in southwestern Balochistan province, prompting Islamabad to recall its ambassador from Tehran.

In less than 48 hours after Iranian airstrikes, Pakistani forces “targeted militants’ hideouts” in a village in Saravan city of Sistan-Baluchestan province.

According to Iran's state media, the attack killed nine people, all of whom were "foreign nationals."