TEHRAN – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he would soon have “good news” for Iran regarding measures against a terrorist group behind a deadly suicide attack in Iran’s southeastern border areas.

The Pakistani prime minister made his promise during a phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani late on Saturday, who called for “decisive” action by Pakistan over the incident and said inaction by Islamabad could jeopardize relations between the neighbors, according to IRNA.

A suicide bombing killed 27 members of Iran’s Revolution Guards in mid-February in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, where security forces are facing a rise in attacks by terror gangs venturing into Iran from inside the Pakistani territory. 

The Jaish al Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

“We are awaiting your decisive operations against these terrorists,” the news agency quoted Rouhani as telling Khan.

“We should not allow decades of friendship and fraternity between the two countries to be undermined by the actions of small terrorist groups, the source of whose financing and arms is known to both of us," Rouhani remarked.

Iran has blamed its regional rival Saudi Arabia and arch-enemy Israel for the attack and other cross-border raids.

“It is in Pakistan’s own interest not to allow our territory to be used by terrorist groups, and the Pakistani army is prepared to confront the terrorists more decisively with the information provided by Iran,” Imran Khan said in response.

He said Pakistani forces have come close to the terrorists’ hideout and there would soon be “good news” for Iran.

SP/PA