The foreign ministry summoned Pakistani Ambassador to Tehran Noor Mohammad Jadmani on Saturday evening to protest against lax border security and the operation of terrorist groups across the joint frontier.
Foreign Ministry Director General for West Asia Rassoul Eslami expressed dismay over cross-border attacks by terrorists and urged Islamabad to take "necessary steps" in order to prevent the repetition of such incidents, IRNA reported.
Over the past weeks, a number of Iranian police personnel and border guards have lost their lives in separate terrorist attacks in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan which borders Pakistan.
"For Tehran it is unacceptable that terrorists and smugglers use Pakistani soil to operate against Iranian border guards," Eslami told the Pakistani envoy.
Iran has a 300 kilometer-long stretch of joint border with Pakistan. There has been a spate of terrorist attacks in Sistan and Baluchestan Province in recent years with gunmen crossing the porous border with Pakistan.
Last year, Tehran and Islamabad signed a security agreement under which both countries are required to cooperate in preventing and combating organized crime, fighting terrorism, and countering the activities that pose a threat to national security of either country.
However, Iranian officials have criticized Islamabad for not taking adequate action to prevent terrorist groups from using its soil as an operation base against Iran and prevent them from crossing the joint border. Iran has even hinted it may be forced to enter into Pakistani territory "to confront terrorists."
The deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Hossein Salami, said on Saturday, "Iran is not seeking to intervene in the affairs of other countries; however, when we see our neighbors are incapable of fulfilling their commitments or there is no resolve on their part (to secure the frontiers) we would have no choice but to confront our enemies wherever they are."
The Pakistani government also summoned the Iranian ambassador on Saturday to protest about the alleged killing of a Pakistani security official by Iranian border guards.
According to Pakistani media, a paramilitary officer was killed and four soldiers were wounded after their vehicle came under fire from Iranian border guards on Friday in Kech district of Baluchistan, the southwestern Pakistani province that borders Iran. They also claimed Iranian border guards raided a village in Chagai, another district of Baluchistan.
