Pakistan and Iran agreed Friday to defuse tensions and re-establish full diplomatic ties after their militaries traded unprecedented airstrikes this week against alleged militant camps on each other's territory.
According to the Pakistani foreign ministry, the agreement stemmed from a telephone conversation that Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani held with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
"The two foreign ministers agreed that working-level cooperation and close coordination on counter-terrorism and other aspects of mutual concern should be strengthened. They also agreed to de-escalate the situation," the statement said.
The chief diplomats also discussed the return of ambassadors of the two countries to their respective capitals.
The conflict erupted on Tuesday when Iranian security forces launched "missile and drone strikes" against what they said were bases of an anti-Iran militant group, Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, in the southwestern Pakistani border province of Baluchistan.
Pakistan condemned the attack as a "blatant breach" of its territorial sovereignty, saying it killed two children and injured several other civilians. On Wednesday, Islamabad announced it was recalling its ambassador to Tehran, asking the Iranian ambassador to leave the country and suspending all bilateral engagements with Iran to protest the "unprovoked" cross-border incursion.
On Thursday, Pakistan undertook retaliatory airstrikes against what it said were "terrorist hideouts" in the southeastern Iranian border province of Sistan-Baluchistan being used to launch attacks against Pakistani security forces in Baluchistan.
Iran said the Pakistani strikes killed at least nine "non-Iranian nationals," mostly children and women.
The reciprocal cross-border incursions by the two countries marked an unprecedented escalation in the usually tense bilateral relations. It also raised fears about broader instability in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7.
Jilani underscored "the close brotherly relations" between the two countries and expressed Islamabad's "desire" to work with Tehran "based on [the] spirit of mutual trust and cooperation," the Pakistani statement said. He "stressed that respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty must underpin this cooperation," it added.
The Iranian Embassy in Islamabad said on its official X social media platform that Amir-Abdollahian had "a very good phone talk to restore relations to a high level" and the two countries "can set a new record in de-escalation ... by returning the ambassadors to the capitals" and mutual visits of foreign ministers of Iran and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Pakistani caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar chaired a Friday meeting with the country's top civilian and military leaders to discuss the crisis stemming from tensions with Iran.
"The forum undertook a wholesome review of the situation and lauded the professional, calibrated, and proportionate response by the armed forces of Pakistan against unprovoked and unlawful violation of Pakistan's sovereignty [by Iran]," said a statement issued after the meeting of what is known as the National Security Committee.
"The meeting also concluded that in line with the universal principles governing the conduct of good neighborly relations, the two countries would mutually be able to overcome minor irritants through dialogue and diplomacy and pave the way to further deepen their historic relations."
The military tensions between Iran and Pakistan prompted United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the United States and China to urge the neighboring countries to exercise restraint and defuse mutual tensions.
The Pakistani military said strikes it conducted Thursday hit bases in Iran that are run by the insurgent groups Baloch Liberation Front, or BLF, and Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA. The groups routinely attack Pakistani security forces in natural resources-rich Baluchistan.
The U.S. has listed the BLA as a global terrorist organization.
Tehran said that its drones and missiles targeted Jaish al Adl bases. The predominantly Shiite Muslim country blames the Sunni Muslim-based militant group for plotting attacks against Iranian security forces in Sistan-Baluchistan.
Iran and Pakistan share a nearly 900-kilometer-long (560 mile) border, where separatists, militants and smugglers have thrived for decades, with both countries accusing the other of not doing enough to counter the security challenges.
