MNA – Pakistani Ambassador to Iran Riffat Masood said on Tuesday that Islamabad is committed to cooperate with Iran in retrieving the 12 Iranian border guards who were abducted and transferred to Pakistan by terrorists.

The envoy noted that Pakistan’s government and military officials are making every effort to locate the abducted border guards.

12 Iranian border guards, including local Basij volunteer forces, were abducted on Oct. 16 by the so-called Jaish ul-Adl terror group, which is based in Pakistan.

The Embassy of Pakistan in Tehran had previously expressed its solidarity with the people of Iran and reiterated that Pakistan condemns the terrorist activities perpetrated by those nefarious elements who want to sabotage relations between the two brotherly countries.

Following the incident, several high-ranking delegations from Iran and Pakistan have met and discussed the matter.

IRGC Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour has voiced Iran’s readiness for any joint military operations with Pakistani Army to free the abductees.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has stressed, Iran already has a strong military presence on shared borders with Pakistan, noting that Pakistan is responsible for the occurrence of such an incident.

Zarif added that “together with [Chief of General Staff of Iranian Armed Force] Maj. Gen. Bagheri and other officials, we have held talks with Pakistani authorities, calling on them to increase the number of their forces on shared borders with Iran."