‘Diplomacy and dialogue’: Global powers, regional stakeholders react to Pakistan and Iran’s tit-for-tat strikes

Beijing called for “calm and restraint”, and offered to mediate between the two countries.

“The Chinese side sincerely hopes that the two sides can exercise calm and restraint and avoid an escalation of tension,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press conference, adding: “We are also willing to play a constructive role in de-escalating the situation if both sides so wish. “

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson reiterated that it hoped for both parties to resolve their disputes through consultations and dialogue.

The United States, which rarely sees eye to eye with Tehran, condemned the Iranian strikes in Pakistan, as well as Iraq and Syria.

“So we do condemn those strikes. We’ve seen Iran violate the sovereign borders of three of its neighbours in just the past couple of days,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement released before Pakistan’s counter strikes were carried out.

“I think it is a little rich for, on one hand, Iran to be the leading funder of terrorism in the region, the leading funder of instability in the region, and on the other hand, claimed that it needs to take these actions to counter terrorism,” the spokesman added.

India’s official spokesperson Shri Randhir Jaiswal was neutral in his remarks, saying: “This is a matter between Iran and Pakistan.

“Insofar as India is concerned, we have an uncompromising position of zero tolerance towards terrorism. We understand actions that countries take in their self defense.”

Turkiye’s foreign ministry called for Iran, Iraq and Pakistan to show “restraint and common sense”.

“We believe the problems should be resolved with an understanding of friendship and brotherhood, based on mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries,” the ministry said in a statement.

Additionally, after holding phone calls with counterparts from both the countries, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that neither wants to escalate tensions in the region.

During a press conference in Jordan, Fidan said Turkey had told both Iran and Pakistan to restore calm as soon as possible.

The Taliban foreign ministry, in a statement, said that the two neighbouring countries “should resolve disputed issues through diplomacy and dialogue”.

Russia’s foreign ministry called on Iran and Pakistan to show maximum restraint and solve their differences through diplomacy or risk playing into the hands of those who would like to see the region descend into chaos.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a statement noted that the two countries are part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a grouping that Russia helped found.

“It is regrettable that this is happening between friendly SCO countries, with which we are developing partnership relations. Further aggravation of the situation plays into the hands of those who are not interested in peace, stability and security in the region,” said Zakharova.

Any anti-terrorist operation on another country’s sovereign territory had to be carried out in agreement and coordination with the authorities of that country, she said.

The European Union said it was deeply worried about the “spiral of violence in the Middle East and beyond” after Pakistan and Iran struck each other’s territory.

“These attacks, including in Pakistan in Iraq and Iran now are of utmost concern for the European Union because they violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, and they have also a destabilising effect on the region,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said.

Additional input from AFP and Reuters