A new wave of terrorism by anti-Iran extremist groups on the Pakistan-Iran border, aimed at the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran's border security forces, could damage relations between Iran and Pakistan, which have improved in tandem with a palpable stabilization of ties between Tehran and Riyadh.

Analysts with deep knowledge of international relations claim that the timing of the terrorist attack by an anti-Iran group is meant to sour the cordial ties between the two neighbors and vitiate the impact of geopolitical changes being carried out in West Asia with the China-mediated reconciliation efforts coming to fruition in the region.

The latest attack on Iran

At least five Iranian border guards were martyred in a clash with a Pakistani-based terrorist cell on May 21 in the volatile southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-o-Baluchistan. The armed group intercepted the IRGC in Saravan, close to the Pakistani border, and then retreated to Pakistani territory.

According to Iran's state-run news agency Fars, "a terrorist group seeking to infiltrate the country" carried out Sunday's attack, and they "fled across the border after the clash."

The incident happened days after the inauguration of the Mand-Pishin border food market by Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi in a graceful ceremony on May 18. Pakistani and Iranian leaders also launched an electricity transmission line to deliver Iranian electricity to the Chinese-run Gwadar port and other remote areas of the province.

The Pakistani Foreign Office issued a communiqué on Friday, May 17th, stating that the joint inauguration demonstrates Pakistan and Iran's commitment to improving the living standards of residents in the neighboring provinces of Balochistan and Sistan-o-Baluchistan, respectively. "It also represents a major step forward in the bilateral relationship between the two nations," the statement added.

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Pakistan expects the Mand-Pishin border food market to become a bustling hub for boosting cross-border trade, promoting economic expansion, and creating new business opportunities for local enterprises. The market also aims to stop the billion-dollar illicit trade between the two nations that have drained Pakistan's and Iran's economies.

Earlier attacks

There is a long history of attacks on the IRGC and Pakistani army, and both countries have accused each other of harboring militants in the remote parts of their controlled borders. In late December last year, four Iranian security forces were martyred in an attack in the same locality of the province, close to the Pakistani border. The incident struck the Iranian border force exactly one month after a preacher was abducted from a mosque in Khash, a town in Sistan and Baluchistan province, and subsequently assassinated. The Baluchi minority lives in this poorest province of Iran, which witnessed several bloody fights with extremist organizations, rebels from the Baluchi minority, and drug trafficking gangs. All these incidents have taken place at this venue, and all of the troublemakers are believed to have crossed over the Iranian border from Pakistani territories. According to Iranian authorities, the assassins of preacher Abdulwahed Rigi were apprehended later before he could cross the border. The authorities believed that the terrorists intended to cause strife between the local populations.

Attacks on the Pakistani army

Similar attacks involving the Pakistan army personnel also make the headlines for a long. Earlier this year, authorities in Pakistan stated that four Pakistani soldiers had been killed by a terrorist attack from the Iranian side of the border. A military statement claimed that the incident happened in the isolated Panjgur district of Baluchistan's southwest region.

"Terrorists used Iranian soil to target a convoy of security forces patrolling along the border," the statement read. It added that "The Iranian side has been asked to hunt down the terrorists on their side" of a more than 900-kilometer border.

Although no one quickly accepted the ownership, Tehran said that anti-Iran militants plan such "terrorist" action in the Iranian border area from their safe havens in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. However, the Iranian embassy in Islamabad strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Pakistani forces. In a tweet, the embassy said that "Iran and Pakistan share a pain called terrorism. This alarming behavior is harming both parties."

Four more Pakistani soldiers were martyred in early April this year in Balochistan Province, in the country's southwest region, close to the Iranian border. In less than three months, there had been two similar attacks. The perpetrators were a "group of terrorists" operating out of Iranian territory, according to the authorities.

The Pakistani military claimed in a statement that it had alerted Iran to the strike to "prevent similar incidents in the future." The attack was denounced by Pakistan's interior minister, Rana Sanaullah, who said in a tweet that "the nation is united in the war against terrorism" and that "this scourge will be eradicated." As usual, no organization claimed ownership of the attack on April 1.

The Project

The concept of a border trade city was first conceived in April 2021, when the two countries decided to establish a third border crossing with Iran's 959 km-long borders with Pakistan at the Mand-Pishin point to facilitate cross-border trade. Mand is situated in Pakistan's tumultuous Balochistan province, adjacent to Pishin in Iran's Baluchistan-o-Sistan.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create border markets along the border was signed between Pakistan and Iran in April 2021. The then-Adviser on Trade and Investment, Abdul Razzak Dawood, tweeted, "At our border with Iran, Balochistan, three border markets are currently being built at Gabd, Mund, and Chedgi."

According to Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the newly inaugurated border market being constructed on 10 acres of land is one of six such facilities that will be built along the Pakistan-Iran border to facilitate new avenues of border trade with Iran. The most recent border market was constructed in an area with a lengthy history. Mand is a hub for small-scale border businesses that supply food and beverages to the main markets of Balochistan, including the districts of Kech and Gwadar. According to media reports, Mand has several large warehouses where food and beverage commodities are imported, stored, and then distributed throughout Balochistan and other Pakistani provinces.