16 June, 2025:
Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, a top Iranian military official has claimed that Pakistan would respond with a nuclear strike against Israel if it launched a nuclear attack on Iran.
"Pakistan has told us that if Israel uses a nuclear bomb on Iran, then Pakistan will also attack Israel with a nuclear bomb," General Mohsen Rezaei, an IRGC commander and member of Iran’s National Security Council, said on Iranian state television.
General Mohsen Rezae's remarks came during an interview on Iranian television as a barrage of missiles crisscrossed Iran and Israel. So far, about 248 deaths (Iran 230 and Israel 18) have been reported in the two countries.
Iranian commander Mohsen Rezaei has claimed that Pakistan has pledged its support to Iran in the event of a nuclear conflict and called for greater unity in the Muslim world. Rezaei also asserted that Tehran possesses undisclosed capabilities that have not been revealed to the international community.
However, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif denied the statement, claiming Islamabad has not made any such commitment.
While Islamabad has dismissed any suggestion of nuclear retaliation, it has openly expressed support for Iran in its broader confrontation with Israel. In the wake of the recent attack on Tehran, Pakistan reiterated its solidarity with Iran, urging unity among Muslim nations against Israel.
On June 14, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, addressing the National Assembly, warned that if Muslim countries fail to unite, they risk suffering the same fate as Iran and Palestine. “Israel has targeted Iran, Yemen, and Palestine. If Muslim nations don't unite now, each will face the same fate,” he was quoted as saying by Turkiye Today.
Israel follows a policy of nuclear ambiguity, refusing to confirm or deny whether it possesses nuclear weapons. Despite the official silence, the Jewish nation is widely believed to have developed a nuclear arsenal and a doctrine focused on deterrence and counter-proliferation, aimed at preventing adversaries from acquiring similar capabilities.
Iran, on the other hand, officially maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, such as energy production and medical research. It is also a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has consistently claimed it does not seek nuclear weapons.
