Could it escalate? A look at what is behind Iran and Pakistan’s airstrikes

By RIAZAT BUTT
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — This week’s airstrikes between Iran and Pakistan mark a significant escalation in fraught relations between the neighbors. Long-running, low-level insurgencies on either side of the border have frustrated both, and the apparent targets of the strikes — Iran’s on Tuesday and Pakistan’s response on Thursday — were insurgents whose goal is an independent Baluchistan for ethnic Baluch areas in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. But why strike inside each other’s countries and risk an escalation? Launching these strikes allows Tehran to show strength without risking a wider confrontation with Israel and the U.S. Pakistan wanted to send a message to Iran and other neighbors, like its nuclear-armed rival, India, that it can fight back if provoked.