Commander of the Ground Forces of the IRGC: The Suicide Bomber Was Pakistani

Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the Ground Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), provided details about the arrest of those involved in the attack on an IRGC bus on the Khash-Zahedan road, stating: "The suicide bomber and two members of the terrorist team are Pakistani." Last Wednesday, following a suicide attack on a bus carrying IRGC members on the Khash-Zahedan route, 27 IRGC members were killed and 12 were injured. Officials of the Islamic Republic pointed fingers directly at Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while also warning Pakistan. Saudi Arabia has denied these accusations, but officials from both countries continue to accuse each other of supporting terrorism and disrupting regional stability. Pakpour, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a memorial for the victims of this suicide attack, detailed the identification and search operation for the perpetrators, saying: "After the incident, we handed over the parts of the suicide vehicle to the police, and after identifying its identity, the intelligence and operational forces of the Quds Headquarters of the IRGC began operations to arrest and dismantle the supporting team and the team that prepared the vehicle for this action." According to the commander of the IRGC Ground Forces, "Two days prior, we obtained our first clue, which was the arrest of a woman, and after the arrest of this terrorist, we reached other individuals." Pakpour emphasized that "two members of the terrorist team were Pakistani, and the suicide bomber was an individual named Hafiz Mohammad Ali from Pakistan, and another person was also from Pakistan." This senior IRGC commander also announced: "Three members of the terrorist team were from the Sistan and Baluchestan region, two of whom have been arrested and one is still at large." According to the commander of the IRGC Ground Forces, "a very large amount of ammunition and equipment" has been obtained from this team, indicating that they intended to carry out "more terrorist actions" on February 11 and other occasions. The IRGC's public relations announced yesterday that the Quds Headquarters of the IRGC successfully identified and dismantled the safe houses of the perpetrators of this incident in the cities of "Saravan and Khash." According to the IRGC's public relations statement, in this operation, "three terrorists were arrested, and 150 kilograms of ready-to-explode materials and 600 kilograms of explosive materials under construction, as well as quantities of weapons and ammunition, were discovered." In this statement, the IRGC emphasized that "it is expected that with the cooperation of the government and army of Pakistan," the "pursuit of leads for definitive and complete revenge against the core group responsible for this crime" will be realized. Earlier this week, Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the IRGC, warned the Pakistani government about taking revenge for the blood of the victims of this attack, stating that "it should change its approach to dealing with bandits and terrorists." Major General Jafari stated: "If Pakistan does not fulfill its responsibilities in combating terrorists, Iran will punish the mercenaries organized by regional and extra-regional intelligence services." On Tuesday, Rafat Masood, the Pakistani ambassador in Tehran, expressed condolences to the victims of the "terrorist incident on the Khash-Zahedan road," stating: "Foreign forces are seeking to destroy the good relations between the brotherly countries of Iran and Pakistan. We must not allow them to succeed." Simultaneously, Bahram Qasemi, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, announced: "Iran expects and demands a firmer response from Pakistan against terrorist groups that use this country's territory to plan, direct, and carry out terrorist operations against targets in Iranian territory." On Sunday, February 17, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Pakistani ambassador in Tehran in response to the attack on the IRGC bus, and the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament warned Pakistan that if it does not deal with armed groups opposed to the Islamic Republic's government on its territory, "the level of cooperation between the two countries will be severely undermined." Concurrently with these developments between Iran and Pakistan, Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, began his Asian tour on Sunday with a visit to Pakistan, where he signed contracts worth twenty billion dollars for Riyadh's investment in Pakistan on the first day of his visit. Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, who has visited Saudi Arabia twice since last summer, expressed gratitude for Riyadh's support during the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince, stating: "Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are now elevating their relations to a level that has not been seen before."