No country should affect Tehran-Islamabad ties: Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani (R) shakes hands with Advisor to Pakistani Prime Minister on National Security Naseer Khan Janjua in Tehran on July 25, 2016. (Photo by IRNA)

Iran and Pakistan should not allow any third country to undermine relations between the two countries, a senior Iranian official says.

“We should not let any third countries, which do not favor security and good neighborliness between Iran and Pakistan, affect friendly ties between the two countries,” Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said on Wednesday.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Naseer Khan Janjua, Pakistan’s national security advisor, on the sidelines of a high-level international security summit in Russia’s northwestern city of Tver.

Last month, 10 Iranian border guards were killed and two others injured in an ambush attack near the town of Mirjaveh in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan.

The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. The assailants escaped into Pakistani territory immediately after the attack.

Shamkhani undefined the need for boosting security in border areas between Iran and Pakistan to prevent activities of terrorist groups.

The Pakistani official, for his part, welcomed further promotion of bilateral ties and said the Iranian foreign minister’s recent visit to Islamabad had resulted in more coordination between the two countries in fending off any act of violence at border areas.

Earlier this month, Mohamamd Javad Zarif visited Islamabad, where he held talks with senior Pakistani officials following the attack on the Iranian border guards.

Iran, China talk anti-terror campaign

Separately, Shamkhani also met with Meng Jianzhu, the secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of China's Communist Party.

Shamkhani said the US was helping Takfiri terrorism in Syria by making up excuses and fabricating lies regarding last month’s suspected chemical attack on the town of Khan Shaykhun in the northwestern province of Idlib.  

Over 80 people died in the April 4 purported gas attack on Khan Shaykhun, which Western countries blamed on the Syrian government.

Using the incident as a pretext, US warships fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea at the Shayrat airfield in Syria’s central province of Homs on April 7. US officials claimed that the suspected Khan Shaykhun attack had been launched from the military site.

Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported that at least nine people had been killed in the early morning strike on the Syrian airfield.

The Chinese official, for his part, expressed concern about US unilateralism in the region and said a recent US deal to sell Saudi Arabia arms worth billions of dollars undermined peace and security in the region.

On the first day of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Washington sealed a nearly $110 billion arms deal with Riyadh.

The Chinese official also praised Iran’s role in the fight against terrorism and extremism, and underlined the need for constant consultations between Beijing and Tehran on the issue.   

Shamkhani also held separate talks with his Turkish and North African counterparts.