US President Joe Biden said Thursday that air strikes by Pakistan and Iran on each other’s territory showed Tehran was not “well-liked” in an increasingly tense region.

“As you can see, Iran is not particularly well liked in the region,” Biden told reporters at the White House, adding that “we’re working on” understanding how the situation will develop.

On Thursday, Pakistan struck terrorist hideouts in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, two days after Iran violated its airspace. Several terrorists were killed during the Intelligence-based operation – codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The military’s media affairs wing stated that “hideouts used by terrorist organisations namely Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF)” were struck in the operation.

Iran’s IRNA news agency reported that nine people were killed in the attack targeting a village in the city of Saravan, with Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi saying all the dead “were foreign nationals”.

Meanwhile, the White House urged Iran and Pakistan on Thursday to avoid escalation in tensions after the two countries exchanged air strikes on each other’s territory.

“We’re monitoring this very, very closely. We don’t want to see an escalation, clearly in South and Central Asia, and we’re in touch with our Pakistani counterparts as you’d expect,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

A question related to Pakistan-Iran tensions was also raised during the US State Department briefing.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the US had not specifically discussed the matter of the Iran strikes with Pakistan. “So we do condemn those strikes. We’ve seen Iran violate the sovereign borders of three of its neighbours in just the past couple of days,” he said.

He expressed hope for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

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China, Turkiye, and Russia also called for both countries to show restraint.

“We believe the problems should be resolved with an understanding of friendship and brotherhood, based on mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that the Chinese side hopes that the two sides can exercise calm and restraint and avoid an escalation of tension.

“We are also willing to play a constructive role in de-escalating the situation if both sides so wish,” she said.