Iran says Pakistan to 'pay high price' over attack, warns Saudi
Iran warned neighboring Pakistan on Saturday it would “pay a
heavy price” for allegedly harboring militants who killed 27 of its elite
Revolutionary Guards in a suicide bombing near the border earlier this week,
state television reported, according to Reuters.
Revolutionary Guards chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari
also accused Tehran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
of supporting militant Sunni groups that attack Iranian forces, saying they
could face “reprisal operations.”
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE deny backing such
militants.
“Why do Pakistan’s army and security body... give refuge to
these anti-revolutionary groups? Pakistan will no doubt pay a high price,”
Jafari said in remarks live on state television.
Jafari was addressing a large crowd gathered for the funeral
of the victims of Wednesday’s suicide bombing, which took place in a
southeastern region where security forces are facing a rise in attacks by
militants from the country’s Sunni Muslim minority.
“Just in the past year, six or seven suicide attacks were
neutralized but they were able to carry out this one,” Jafari told the
mourners, who packed a square in the central city of Isfahan and roads leading
to it.
The Sunni group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which says
it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority
Baluchis, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“The treacherous Saudi and UAE governments should know that
Iran’s patience has ended and we will no longer stand your secret support for
these anti-Islam criminals,” Jafari said.
“We will avenge the blood of our martyrs from the Saudi and
UAE governments and ask the President (Hassan Rouhani)... to leave our hands
free more than ever for reprisal operations,” Jafari told the crowd, drawing
chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest).
Iran’s Shiite Muslim authorities say militant groups operate
from safe havens in Pakistan and have repeatedly called on the neighboring
country to crack down on them.
Jafari’s remarks came amid heightening regional tensions
after Israel and the Gulf Arab states attended a summit in the Polish capital
Warsaw this week where the United States hoped to ratchet up pressure against
Iran.