Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has urged Iran to conduct a “complete investigation” after eight Pakistani migrant staff have been killed over the weekend in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, which shares a border with Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province.
The assault happened on Saturday in Mehrestan county, positioned roughly 230km (142 miles) from the Pakistan border, the place unidentified assailants attacked a workshop.
In response to Iranian media stories, all eight staff – who belonged to varied areas of Pakistan’s Punjab province and have been working as mechanics – have been tied up and shot useless.
The Baloch Nationalist Military (BNA), a lesser-known Baloch group looking for independence from Pakistan, has claimed accountability for the assault.
Iran and Pakistan have been each fast to sentence the assault, with the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, saying “terrorism is a typical risk all through the area”.
The Pakistani envoy to Tehran, Mudassir Tipu, confirmed in a assertion on X that the 2 international locations have been coordinating efforts to analyze the incident.
Earlier, Pakistan’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs had sought a joint response in opposition to the attackers. “Pakistan strongly condemns the inhumane and cowardly killing of its nationals in Iran. We hope for the Iranian aspect’s full cooperation in investigating the matter and within the well timed repatriation of victims’ stays,” it mentioned in an announcement on Sunday.
But consultants say the lethal assault solely underscored the tense safety panorama alongside their shared border — the place the 2 international locations traded missile fireplace final yr, accusing one another of harbouring lethal armed teams.
Assertion of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Pakistan:
The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns the inhumane and cowardly armed incident in opposition to 8 Pakistani nationals in Iran’s Sistan and Balouchestan province.
Terrorism is a power plight… pic.twitter.com/qbjXe6Q3TC— Reza Amiri Moghadam (@IranAmbPak) April 13, 2025
Rising tensions alongside the border
The Pakistan-Iran border has been tense since January 2024, when Iran launched assaults on Pakistani soil.
The Iranian authorities mentioned it was focusing on Jaish al-Adl, an armed group it accuses of finishing up a number of assaults in Iran. Pakistan responded a day later with a retaliatory assault that it mentioned was primarily based on “credible intelligence” relating to “impending large-scale terrorist actions” from throughout the border.
Simply days after the change, at the very least 9 Pakistani labourers have been killed in Iran’s Saravan area by unidentified males in a strikingly comparable act of violence to the Mehrestan incident.
Balochistan, a area that spans components of Iran and Afghanistan, has skilled a surge in violence over the previous yr, with the secessionist group Balochistan Liberation Military (BLA) (BLA) finishing up a number of large-scale assaults.
Final month, the BLA launched an audacious assault by hijacking the Jaffer Categorical, a Pakistani passenger practice carrying about 400 individuals. Following an operation that lasted greater than 24 hours, Pakistani safety forces overcame the hijacking, eliminating at the very least 33 attackers. Thirty individuals, together with 26 passengers and 4 safety personnel, have been additionally killed.
Balochistan is residence to about 15 million of Pakistan’s estimated 240 million individuals, in keeping with the 2023 census. But, it stays the nation’s poorest area regardless of its wealth in pure sources, together with coal, gold, copper, and gasoline.
It additionally hosts one in every of Pakistan’s main deep-sea ports at Gwadar, a vital hub within the $62bn China-Pakistan Financial Hall (CPEC), designed to attach southwestern China to the Arabian Sea via Pakistan.
Baloch nationalist teams allege that the Pakistani state has uncared for their individuals whereas exploiting the province’s sources, fuelling separatist actions and armed rebellions. Baloch activists additionally accuse the federal government of human rights violations and of being behind pressured disappearances — a cost that Pakistan’s authorities denies.
BNA’s try and reassert presence?
Mehsud, who can also be a co-founder of The Khorasan Diary, a safety analysis portal, added that whereas Tehran insists that it doesn’t harbour Baloch armed separatists, a number of incidents over the previous 15 months counsel that Baloch secessionist teams are lively on Iran’s aspect of the border.
Whereas the BLA stays probably the most potent group in Balochistan, focusing on legislation enforcement personnel in addition to Chinese language pursuits, Mehsud mentioned the BNA — the group that claimed Saturday’s assault — is smaller, with extra restricted sources.
There isn’t a proof to counsel that Iran is in any approach supportive of the BNA. The truth is, the Baloch group views Iran, because it views Pakistan, as an occupier.
“BNA has confronted inside divisions previously as nicely and lags considerably behind BLA when it comes to fighter energy, together with suicide squads, monetary sources, propaganda capabilities, and weapon availability,” Mehsud added.
He believes the most recent assault could also be an try by the BNA to reassert its presence.
Baloch rebels a risk to Iran too
The Islamabad-based analyst provides that though the BNA is against Iran, its risk to Tehran’s pursuits seems restricted in contrast with Jaish al-Adl, a Baloch group that has repeatedly attacked Iran previously.
That, he mentioned, may clarify Iran’s method to the 2 teams — prioritising one as a safety risk over the opposite.
“Iran’s response to those teams differs considerably, persistently focusing on Jaish al-Adl whereas seemingly not taking motion in opposition to the BNA,” Mehsud mentioned.
Nonetheless, following the April 12 assault, Iran has been agency in looking for a regional response to armed teams — which creates the opportunity of larger coordination between Tehran and Islamabad in addressing safety threats on either side of the border.
“Combating this ominous phenomenon requires collective and joint efforts by all international locations to eradicate all types of terrorism and extremism which have claimed the lives of 1000’s of harmless individuals in latest many years,” Moghadam, the Iranian ambassador in Pakistan, wrote on X.
