Nuclear-Ambitious Iran Strikes Nuclear-Armed Pakistan

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Pakistan and Iran exchanged tit-for-tat air strikes on each others’ territory on January 16 and 17. On January 16, Iran struck targets in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, which according to Pakistani authorities, killed two children. Iran claimed it was targeting terrorists, but Pakistan considered it to be “an egregious violation of international law.”

Pakistan responded January 17 with strikes on Iran’s own Sistan and Baluchistan province, on alleged Pakistani separatists. At the time of recording, nine people are confirmed dead from the strikes.

How these circumstances will end is so far unknown. But Pakistan is a nuclear power. Iran has one of the most powerful armies in the Middle East. A war between the two countries could quickly spiral out of control.

Since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Iran has been unafraid to push at its neighbors in provocative and unconventional ways. The strikes in Pakistan are a case in point.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes in his booklet The King of the South: “Iran is extremely radical—the king over radical Islam. Where is this nation’s pushiness leading? To war! Just as it has in the past. It is leading inevitably to terrifying war with weapons of mass destruction.”

Iran’s attack on Pakistan shows it is unafraid to provoke a nuclear power. The Trumpet expects Iran to continue pushing at competitors until it gets an overwhelming pushback.