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Raisi: Colonial powers disapprove of enhanced Iran-Pakistan ties
Raisi made the remarks in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday night, where he congratulated the Pakistan Peoples Party’s co-chairperson for winning a second term as Pakistan’s president, Press TV reported.
“The development of Iran-Pakistan relations is not agreeable to colonial powers, and they are seeking to drive a wedge between the two Muslim countries,” Raisi said.
Cooperation in the joint fight against terrorism should be enhanced, and enemies should not be given the chance to advance their agendas and disrupt friendship between Tehran and Islamabad, the Iranian president added.
He also lauding the faith and fervor of young Muslims in thwarting various plots such as those unleashed by the Daesh terrorist group,
For his part, Zardari denounced the Israeli airstrike on the consular section of the Iranian Embassy in the Syrian capital city of Damascus.
“The vast cultural and historical similarities between the two countries are a suitable ground for the expansion of cultural, commercial, economic relations and the exchange of diverse and numerous capacities between the two sides,” the Pakistani president said.
The two neighboring countries witnessed an escalation of cross-border tensions over Iran’s counter-terrorism operations. On January 16, Iran launched simultaneous drone and missile attacks on two bases of Jaish ul-Adl, a terror outfit that was formed in 2012 and has conducted several attacks on Iranian soil in recent years.
Pakistan carried out strikes on January 17 against, what it called were, bases of the separatist Baloch Liberation Front and Baloch Liberation Army in regions close to Iran’s border which Tehran slammed as unbalanced.
The two countries fully restored ties in the next weeks as ambassadors resumed duties in late January.