Comment by Riaz Haq on April 14, 2023 at 12:34pm

#Pakistan's arrest of anti-#China militant felt from #Beijing to #Tehran. "Pakistan hopes that China will put pressure on #Iran over the issue of its support of #Baloch militancy" #CPEC #SaudiArabia #India - Nikkei Asia https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Terrorism/Pakistan-s-arrest-of-ant...

Meanwhile, Imam's arrest, the details of which remain a mystery, could have geopolitical implications. Although the BNA says he was caught in Turkey, most experts and security officials interviewed by Nikkei agree he had been operating out of Iran.

Kiyya Baloch believes it is no accident that Imam's detention was announced as Beijing brokers an Iran-Saudi rapprochement. "Pakistan hopes that China will put pressure on Tehran over the issue of support of Baloch militancy through its newly formed role of a peace broker," he added.

Experts say Tehran does not consider anti-Islamabad groups enemies and sees them as potentially useful allies against other hostile groups. But Luke Przybyszewski, president of the Abhaseed Foundation Fund, a Polish group of Middle East experts, said the situation presented by the arrest of Imam has created some room for mediation by Beijing.

"It's not a black-and-white situation in which Beijing would resort to just disciplining Iran," he told Nikkei, "but rather could see this as another diplomatic opportunity to increase its regional role."

Przemyslaw Lesinski, an expert on Afghanistan and Iran at the War Studies Academy in Warsaw, said Beijing would like to see regional proxy conflicts come to an end. "We can be quite certain that China will put pressure not only on Iran but also on other [players] in the region, too," he said, suggesting Beijing would be a beneficiary of security cooperation between Tehran and Islamabad.

Comment by Riaz Haq 4 hours ago

Is the US attacking Chabahar?

Yes, the United States military is actively conducting airstrikes against targets in the Iranian port city of Chabahar. The assault represents a major geographic expansion of the ongoing U.S.–Iran conflict beyond the narrow confines of the Strait of Hormuz, shifting operations directly out onto Iran’s southeastern Indian Ocean coast.The attacks in Chabahar are part of a wider, heavy multi-day bombing campaign and naval blockade ordered by President Donald Trump. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) states that the operations are designed to degrade Iranian capabilities used to threaten commercial shipping.Target Profile and Damage in ChabaharMaritime Traffic Control Tower: The primary target in Chabahar was the city's marine observation and traffic control center. Local authorities confirmed the structure suffered significant damage and sent thick plumes of smoke over the harbor.Port Infrastructure Status: Despite damage to the control tower and two docking facilities, Iranian officials state that the core cargo sectors (Shahed Beheshti and Shahed Kalantari ports) remain structurally functional for shipping.Daylight Assaults: Notably, the U.S. military broke its pattern of purely overnight raids to launch rare daytime airstrikes directly against Chabahar's maritime infrastructure.

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