‘Extremely Troubling’: CNN Reports On Growing Fight Between Iran and Pakistan After Shocking Missile Exchange
CNN international correspondent Ivan Watson spoke with Sara Sidner on Thursday morning about the escalating and deadly exchange between Iran and Pakistan, which Sidner dubbed as “extremely troubling and extremely rare.”
“New this morning. Iran is demanding answers amid an escalating spat with Pakistan. Overnight, Pakistan launched retaliatory strikes on targets in southeastern Iran just across their shared border,’ Sidner began, adding:
Pakistan claims it took out a number of militants, but Iran says mostly women and children were killed. This is coming just a day after Iran said it fired missiles and drones at militant strongholds inside Pakistan. Local officials say two children were killed there. CNN’s Ivan Watson is following all of these details for us. Ivan, these really are and this is an extraordinary moment with Pakistan and Iran launching strikes against each other. What does it mean for the region?
“Well, I think it just underscores, Sara, how volatile the Middle East and Central Asia are right now, because even 48 hours ago, you couldn’t have imagined these two neighbors getting into this tit-for-tat, deadly cross-border missile strike situation, because the prime minister of Pakistan was meeting with the foreign minister of Iran in Davos on Tuesday,” Watson reported, adding:
The two navies, they were conducting joint naval exercises at the beginning of this week. And then out of nowhere, the Iranians fired these missiles into Pakistani territory, saying they’re hitting militants who’ve carried out attacks inside Iran in the past. And it totally shocks the Pakistani ruling establishment, which calls it, basically, a disruption of Pakistan’s sovereignty says at least two children were killed in the strikes, and there are calls for retaliation.
And that’s what a number of hours ago, the Pakistani military, basically claimed responsibility for saying that, uh, it fired, quote, ‘killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and standoff weapons’ into Iranian territory after targets that it claimed were, uh, ethnic Baluch separatist militants, who they accused of having operated from across this very long and porous border. So it’s a messy situation. The Pakistanis seem to be leaving the door open to some kind of de-escalation right now. And the ball does appear to be in Iran’s court, though.
Pakistan has withdrawn its ambassador from Tehran. And it has said that Iran’s ambassador to to the Pakistani capital is not really welcome at this time. So this really is a diplomatic crisis between these two neighbors who basically didn’t have any beef more than 48 hours ago.
“Yeah, I mean, it is extremely troubling and extremely rare. Uh, I don’t know that we’ve seen this in our lifetimes. And thank you for clarifying that we are talking about Central Asia, uh, as well. A lot of people think that Pakistan is the Middle East. Thank you. Appreciate it, Ivan,” Sidner concluded.
Watch the full clip above via CNN.
