Eleven Iranian soldiers detained in Pakistan.

Pakistani soldiers inside a military transport vehicle.               (AP Photo)

As Pakistan’s military continues to make progress against the Taliban and Al-Qaida in South Waziristan, an incident has occurred along its border with Iran that has raised eyebrows throughout the international community. Eleven Iranian Revolutionary Guards soldiers were detained after they crossed the Pakistan-Iran border into Pakistani territory. The incursion happens eight days following a suicide bombing that killed forty-two Iranians, including six Revolutionary Guards Commanders.

The bombing, which occurred in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Beluchestan Province, caused extensive damage and death that was clearly aimed at Iran’s military personnel and capabilities in that region. The attack was made by a suicide bomber which has led many analysts to believe that stronger and more radical Sunni tactics have been adopted. Jundallah, meaning "God’s Soldiers," have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Just before the eleven Iranian soldiers were detected and detained by Pakistani Forces, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander issued a demand that the Revolutionary Guards be allowed to attack Jundallah bases inside Pakistan. The Iranian government claims that Jundallah has bases on the Pakistan side of the border. It is from these alleged bases that Iran claims attacks are planned and dispatched against targets inside Iran. Pakistani officials deny that such camps exist along its border with Iran.

The Iranian soldiers remain in Pakistani custody as they try to determine the meaning and intent behind the incursion. Officials have not announced whether or not the soldiers were part of Iran’s elite Quds Force. They also have not yet been able to determine the purpose of the soldiers’ presence in Pakistan but "aim to find out quickly," an official stated under conditions of anonymity.

A. Sterling, a researcher for one of hundreds of politico-military think-tank corporations that surround Washington, D.C. stated during a telephonic interview that the Iranian team may have been there to reconnoiter the area for higher level strategic planning on the part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. He indicated further that the incursion could also be a probe of Pakistan’s detection and defense capabilities. "It is possible, however unlikely, that Iran may actually be planning an invasion of the Pakistani area under the guise of striking Jundallah bases," Sterling said.

A professor, asking to remain anonymous, who teaches political science at an Atlanta area college, stated, "Although Shia and Sunni Islam are at odds with each other, they will join together to fight a common enemy. If an attack on alleged Jundallah bases is launched by the Iranian military, then critical resources and personnel will be pulled away from the South Waziristan offensive to deal with the Iranian invasion. It is definitely in Iran’s best interests to save the Taliban from annihilation when the Taliban are the key forces that have bogged-down U.S. efforts and stabilization in Afghanistan," the professor said.

In what other analysts are calling a typical Iranian reversed situation fabrication, Iran has accused the United States and United Kingdom of funding, training, and supplying Jundallah at bases set up in Pakistan, along Iran’s border. Both the United States and United Kingdom have adamantly and categorically denied Iran’s allegations. Thus far, the Iranian Theocracy has yet to provide any documented evidence supporting its claims of U.S. and U.K. involvement with Jundallah. This is in contrast to the piles of documented evidence, collected and presented by a plethora of countries, regarding Iran’s Quds Force assistance to Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi Insurgent Groups, and Afghan insurgents.