Pakistan holds emergency security meeting after trading strikes with Iran

Pakistan's prime minister held an emergency security meeting on Friday with military and intelligence chiefs after trading deadly air strikes with Iran on militant targets this week.

The rare military actions in the porous border region of Baluchistan — shared between the two countries — have further stoked regional tensions already enflamed by the Israel-Hamas war.

Iran carried out a missile and drone attack on what it called "terrorist" targets in Pakistan on Tuesday night, with Pakistan in turn striking militant targets inside Iran on Thursday.

Pakistan has recalled its ambassador from Tehran and said Iran's envoy — on a visit home — is blocked from returning to Islamabad.

The United Nations and the United States have appealed for restraint, while China has offered to mediate.

"The prime minister has summoned a meeting of the National Security Committee set to take place today," a spokesperson in his office told AFP.

An Islamabad security official said the Chief of Army Staff and head of the intelligence services would attend the meeting, which started early evening.

As the meeting began, Islamabad said foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani had spoken to his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian by phone.

"Jilani expressed Pakistan's readiness to work with Iran on all issues based on [a] spirit of mutual trust and cooperation," said a foreign ministry statement.

"He underscored the need for closer cooperation on security issues."

The muted rhetoric matched analysts' predictions that both sides would seek to de-escalate the confrontation.

"The upshot of the new situation is that the two countries are seemingly and symbolically even," said Antoine Levesques, of the International...