In one of the deadliest cross-border attacks in recent months, an armed assault on a tri-national paramilitary unit affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) left at least 10 people dead and two others injured in the volatile Saravan border region of southeastern Iran.
According to HalVash, a Baluch rights-monitoring platform, the attack took place early Saturday in the Bache-Rahi zone at the zero-point of the Golshan border where the frontiers of Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan converge. The ambushed unit, reportedly operating under local IRGC commanders Houshang Sourizehi and Yaser Noshiravani, was composed of Iranian, Pakistani, and Afghan nationals.
The assault left the unit decimated. Among the dead were six identified as Mohammad Arif Hosseinbar, Mohammad Akram Sepahi, Sana Pehra, Irfan Baloch, Nazir Nouti Zehi, and five former Afghan National Army soldiers named Asad, Bazgul, Nemat, Ahmad, and Omar—men who had reportedly fled to Iran and Pakistan following the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Sources claim the team had been tasked with covert operations against local Baloch populations, including the targeted killing of activists, repression of civil dissent, and involvement in criminal acts ranging from extortion and theft to sexual violence against Afghan refugees. These allegations, if substantiated, risk inflaming already tense ethnic and sectarian fault lines in the region.
Commander Yaser Noshiravani and a man identified only as “Pahlawan” from Afghanistan were seriously injured in the attack. The assailants are reported to have set fire to three vehicles and military equipment before escaping with seized arms, underscoring the growing vulnerability of Iranian forces operating in border regions.
Iranian authorities have remained tight-lipped, issuing no official statement more than 24 hours after the incident. The silence has only fueled speculation about the nature of the unit’s operations and the attackers’ motives.
The Saravan region, located in Iran’s restive Sistan-Baluchestan province, has long served as a flashpoint for insurgent activity, smuggling networks, and armed resistance by Baloch separatist groups. Saturday’s attack is likely to trigger a harsh response from the IRGC, potentially escalating violence across the already volatile border belt.
The attack also highlights the complex regional entanglements following the fall of Kabul in 2021, with former Afghan military personnel now operating under Iranian command in missions that remain opaque and deeply controversial.
