Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Ali Fadavi responded to the major
suicide car bombing against his forces in southeastern Iran today by
promising a retaliation, and saying that retaliation won’t be limited by Iran’s own borders.
While it’s not clear if this points to serious plans for cross-border
retaliation against Jaish al-Adl, the group is known to have a number of
safe havens in neighboring Pakistan, and Iran has been pushing Pakistan
to do something about them.
That means this could be a prelude to leveraging Pakistan into acting
against the Islamist faction, or suggest Iran may launch some limited
cross-border strikes into western Pakistan. It might also just be the
usual threats of retaliation after a big terror attack.
Groups like Jaish al-Adl, an offshoot of Jundallah, are not merely a
threat to Iran, and are also liable to carry out attacks inside
Pakistani Balochistan as well, even if their Salafist leanings make
attacking Iran their first choice.
Iran is dying the death of 1000 cuts and it doesn’t seem like they can do much about it.