The unprovoked Iranian drone attack against alleged Jaish ul-Adl bases in Baluchistan prov­ince of Pakistan was not only ill con­ceived but was also based on flawed premise. In less than 24 hours, Iran attacked targets in three countries, Iraq, Syr­ia and Pakistan. Pakistan ex­ercised restraint, but seeing no constructive development from Iran, it responded in kind by engaging seven targets. The de­velopment however, necessitates de­liberation to find reasons / circum­stances leading to this development and the way forward.

Undertaking air attacks in another country are considered an act of war. It is incomprehensible that Iranian leadership made this decision without considering all aspects and possible response. The reasons for this irratio­nal and provocative act could be mul­tiple. Iranian decision makers could have been emboldened by its earli­er offensive acts against many of its neighbours without facing a reprisal, mostly either because of weak militar­ies or domestic compulsions of those countries. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards enjoy unlimited authority and space in decision making. It is high­ly probable that either IRGC prevailed in the decision making process or took an independent decision, suggesting overwhelming clout of the hardlin­ers. Role of infiltrators from countries hostile to Iranian interests in the IRGC cannot be discounted. A contributing factor could be domestic political tur­moil in........

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