Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday conveyed its concerns to Tehran over reported warning by Iranian armed forces chief to carry out strikes inside Pakistani territory on suspected bases of militants.

Iranian ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost was summoned to Islamabad’s Foreign Office, where Pakistani officials expressed concern over reported remarks of Iran’s army chief of staff, regarding cross border actions, a foreign ministry statement said.

“It was conveyed to the Iranian Ambassador that such remarks were against the spirit of brotherly relations existing between the two countries,” the statement said.

“The Iranian side was urged to avoid issuance of such statements that could vitiate the environment of fraternal relations,” an official statement said.

The head of the Iranian armed forces issued a warning on Monday in remarks reported by the state news agency IRNA.

This cam e after ten Iranian border guards were killed by militants last month. Iran said Jaish Al Adl, a militant group, had shot the guards with long-range guns, fired from inside Pakistani territory in Balochistan province. The border area has long been plagued by activities of drug smuggling gangs and separatist militants.

“We cannot accept the continuation of this situation,” IRNA quoted the head of the Iranian armed forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri as saying.

“We expect the Pakistani officials to control the borders, arrest the terrorists and shut down their bases. If the terrorist attacks continue, we will hit their safe havens and cells, wherever they are,” he said.

Recently, the frequency of high level exchanges between the two sides had strengthened bilateral cooperation.

During a visit by Iran’s foreign minister to Islamabad on May 3, the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation on the border issues, it was reported.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Pakistan last week and asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to improve border security. Pakistan assured Iran it would deploy additional troops along its border.

In 2014, Iran had reportedly warned it would send troops to Pakistan to retrieve five Iranian border guards kidnapped by Jaish al Adl but refrained from implementing the threat as Islamabad cautioned against such move. Four of the kidnapped guards were released a few months later, but one was killed by the militants.