IRAN`S intrusion into Pakistani territory was unprecedented and more lethal compared to similar attacks in the past, as it is thought that the strike may have been prompted by attacks in the Iranian town of Rask in December claimed by Jaish al-Adl in which 11 Iranian security personnel were killed.

But Tuesday`s attack was hardly the first Iranian strike in Pakistan there is, in fact, a history of mistrust between the two countries, which took an uglier turn with the emergence of Jaish al-Adl in 2012.

To understand the origins of the Jaish al-Adl and the trust deficit between Tehran and Islamabad, one must hark back to the 1970s.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Tehran`s harsh treatment of the Baloch fuelled Sunni radicalism in Sistan-o-Baluchistan. But long before the revolution, ethnic Baloch from Iran had migrated to Balochistan and Karachi, engaging in political activities against the Shah of Iran.

This is why Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, fearing the Baloch insurgency`s potential spread to the 1.2 million Baloch residing in eastern Iran, sent 30 Cobra gunships with Iranian pilots to assist Islamabad during the Baloch incursion in Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, as noted by scholar and journalist, Selig S. Harrison.

The militant group Sipah-e-Rasoolallah, which emerged in the 1990s under Maula Bux Darakhshan (aka Mauluk), was the first to organise cross-border incursions from Balochistan`s Kech into Iran`s Sistan-o-Baluchistan.

Mauluk found support from anti-Shia groups in Pakistan, significantly shaping the religious dimension of the Baloch resistance against Iran, by framing his efforts as a `jihad`.

His death in 2006 led to his brother, Mullah Omar Irani, assuming the leadership of the Sipah-e-Rasoolallah and the compound.

Motivated by the desire to avenge his brother who was executed by Iran,Iranicontinued the struggle.

Omar`s compound in Kulahu, Kech, situated 45 miles (72km) east of the Iran border, was the target of the first Iranian missile strike on Nov 25, 2013.

To build up the fight against Iran, Mullah Omar Irani merged his Sipah-e-Rasoolallah with Jundullah, led by Abdolmalek Rigi, a young man who had grown up under the influence of Mauluk.

Founded in 2002, Jundullah gained prominence after a failed Dec 2005 attack on the motorcade of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On March 16, 2006, Jundullah militants dressed as police and military personnel set up a checkpoint between Zahedan and Zabol. They offloaded 22 passengers and killed them. This shocking incident led Iran to raise Jundullah`s activities with Pakistani officials.

On June 14, 2008, Pakistan handed over Rigi`s brother Abdolhamid, who had been arrested a few months earlier from Kech district, in an attempt to build trust between the two countries. Abdolhamid was subsequently hanged in Zahedan in May 2010.

But this did not deter Jundullah. In October 2009, the group carried out a deadly bombing in Pishin (on the Iranian side) killing 43 people, including six commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. For the first time, Iran openly blamed Pakistan and the West for supporting Jundullah and Rigi.

In February 2010, Tehran successfully captured Rigi while he was on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. Although he was hanged in June of that year, Jundallah continued its activities under the leadership of al-Hajj Mohammed Dhahir Baluch from February 2010 to 2011. But over time, Jundallah experienced a decline in strength.

It was around this time that Turbat-based Mullah Omar Irani, along with like-minded people, laid the foundations of Jaish al-Adl in 2012.

The outfit was established in 2012 in the border regions of Pakistan and Iran. Although its leadership remains largely unknown, it is widely believed that Mullah Omar Irani was one of its key founders.

The group came into the spotlight after a roadside bomb in Saravan killed 13 Revolutionary Guards in October 2013.

In response, Iran fired a deadly missile at the compound run by Mullah Omar Irani in Kech one month after the Saravan bombings.

Mullah Irani survived, though his house and an adjacent mosque were damaged.

This cycle of violence continued. In February 2014, Jaish al-Adl kidnapped four Iranian soldiers and allegedly brought them into Pakistan, prompting accusations from Iran about Pakistan`s failure to control cross-border infiltration. Iran threatened to send troops into Pakistan if the soldiers were not released. The soldiers were eventually freed in April of that year.

In October 2014, a botched attack by Jaish al-Adl resulted in the deaths of four Iranian security forces members in Saravan.

This time, Brigadier General Hussein Salami of Saravan threatened to send troops into Pakistan if it failed to rein in Jaish al-Adl.

By March 2016, the situation had further intensified, with Pakistan also accusing Iran of providing shelter to Baloch separatists involved in an insurgency in Pakistan following the arrest of Kulbushan Jadhav, a retired Indian navy officer in the Mashkel area ofBalochistan,nearthe Iranianborder.

Tensions rose further when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans to build and operate the Chabahar port during his visit to Iran in May 2016. Iran started viewing Gwadar as a competitor to its Chabahar port. The blame game escalated, with Iran launching rockets into Pakistan`s border towns. Then, in July 2017, Iran fired a barrage of rockets into Panjgur.

On a November evening in 2020, Turbat police allegedly shot dead Iran`s most-wanted militant leader, Mullah Omar Irani, along with his two sons in an alleged encounter, just two days after Iran`s Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif visited Islamabad. Mullah Irani had been in hiding in Turbat`s posh Satellite Town, according to the police.

A detailed version of this article can be accessed on Dawn.com