Dec. 19, 2023

Deadly Sunni militancy in southeastern Iran puts spotlight on Pakistan

Iran/Security

The story: Sunni Baluchi militant group Jaish Ul-Adl has attacked a police station in southeastern Iran, killing at least 11 officers. This is the group’s second deadly assault on a police outpost in the area this year. In the wake of the bloodshed, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi has criticized Pakistan’s border security measures, alleging that militants crossed the frontier into Iran to carry out the attack. Vahidi has also charged that Israel backs Jaish Ul-Adl.

Incidentally, the day after the attack, Iran announced the execution of an unnamed individual convicted of spying for Israel.

The coverage: Iranian state media reported that 11 officers were killed and seven wounded when Jaish Ul-Adl members attacked a police station in Rask, Sistan-Baluchestan Province in the early hours of Dec. 15.

  • Jaish Ul-Adl, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Iran, claimed the attack in a post on Telegram before the media reported it.

  • The group also disputed the official casualty figures, insisting in a separate post that 50 government forces had been killed and injured.

  • The death toll reported by Iranian media brings the number of law enforcement personnel “martyred” in the line of duty over the last nine months to 72.


Two days after the attack, Interior Minister Vahidi traveled to the Sunni-majority southeastern province and vowed vengeance.

  • In Rask, Vahidi said it “has become clear” that the attackers crossed the border from Pakistan and urged Islamabad to “pay more attention to border control.”

  • In a separate speech, the interior minister warned the Pakistani government “not to allow terrorists to build a nest” in its territory.

  • Vahidi also claimed that Iran’s arch-foe Israel “supports terrorist grouplets” near Iran’s borders.

The day after the attack, on Dec. 16, Iran’s judiciary announced that an unnamed individual in Sistan-Baluchestan Province had been executed for allegedly spying for Israel.

  • Without offering any details on the identity of the prisoner or the date of his arrest, the judiciary said he had been convicted of espionage.

  • The judiciary charged that the executed individual had “provided classified information” to an alleged Israeli agent to “cause disorder” and “promote” anti-Islamic Republic groups.

The attack in Rask has been condemned by Iranian officials as well as the United Nations.

  • President Ebrahim Raisi and judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei condemned the incident and called for the punishment of those involved.

  • Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, emphasized on Dec. 15 “the need to bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack.”

  • Jaish Ul-Adl said Dujarric’s comments were “disappointing” and accused him of “being unaware of Iran’s situation”—including how “the Baluch people have been the main victims” of the Islamic Republic.

Influential Sunni cleric and establishment critic Abdolhamid Esmailzehi offered his condolences to the families of the victims in his Friday prayer sermons in provincial capital Zahedan just hours after the attack.

  • Popularly known as Molavi Abdolhamid, the top Iranian Sunni cleric said the incident was “very worrying” and urged “all sides” to safeguard national security.

Government-run Iran daily on Dec. 16 criticized Esmailzehi for not explicitly condemning the attack.

  • The paper also implicitly accused the Sunni cleric of failing to counter and “at times supporting” actions meant to sow divisions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

The context/analysis: Iran and Pakistan share a 900 km (559 miles) border that has proven difficult to control. Various militant and insurgent groups operate in the isolated expanse between the two neighbors.

  •  Local groups on both sides of the frontier have often appealed to Baluch nationalism, claiming to defend the rights of the ethnic group whose members are spread between Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan.


Jaish Ul-Adl is an offshoot of the Salafist militant group Jundullah. It has long been active in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province but is believed to be based across the border in Pakistan.

  • Jundullah was established in 2003. It carried out attacks inside Iran until 2010 when its leader, Abdol Malek Rigi, was apprehended and later executed.

  • In 2011, some remnants of Jundullah reportedly linked up with Baluch separatists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Other members of the Salafist group formed Jaish Ul-Adl.

  • Reportedly led by Salahuddin Farooqui, Jaish Ul-Adl has targeted Iranian soldiers and civilians in a string of attacks in recent years.

The attack on Dec. 15 was Jaish Ul-Adl’s second—and deadliest—assault on a police station in Sistan-Baluchestan this year.

  • The first attack occurred on July 8 in provincial capital Zahedan, during which a police officer and a conscript were killed.

Esmailzehi is widely seen as the spiritual leader of the Iranian Baluch. The Sunni community is centered in Sistan-Baluchestan Province and accounts for up to 2M of Iran’s population of 85M. This influence has made entirely dismissing or even jailing Esmailzehi a risk for the authorities.

  • The prominent Sunni cleric's criticism of the establishment following last year's anti-establishment protests in Iran has made him a regular target of hardline media.

  • Alleged bulletins leaked following the Nov. 2022 hacking of Fars News Agency claimed that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned against detaining Esmailzehi. Instead, Khamenei allegedly called for "disgracing" him.

The future: The porous border between Iran and Pakistan has presented the two countries with similar challenges.

  • A series of attacks on both sides of the border in 2019 led to the establishment of a "joint rapid reaction force."

  • Many observers expected a deadly attack on Iranian border guards on May 21 to push Islamabad and Tehran to enhance security cooperation. But the ongoing Jaish Ul-Adl activity suggests that major security gaps remain.

Iran also faces militant groups in its Kurdish-majority regions. Tehran has responded to attacks by Kurdish actors by targeting their positions inside Iraq. In parallel, major political pressure has been exerted to compel Iraqi Kurdish authorities to move Iranian Kurdish opposition groups away from the border.

  • However, it is unlikely that Iran will risk Pakistan’s ire by taking matters into its own hands through major unilateral cross-border operations. This leaves diplomacy as the most likely path forward.
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