After almost two years of war in Ukraine and weeks of devastating airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, now fresh destruction and death in Iran after Pakistan attacked it on Thursday.
Authorities in Tehran claimed that three women, four men and two children were killed.
Yet in recent years, these two countries have been allied on several issues. Why has neighbour turned on neighbour?
First, we must understand the febrile landscape of faraway Balochistan, where the conflict is taking place.
This remote landscape, covering the southeast of Iran and areas in the west of Pakistan, has a population of 10 million and has long sought independence.
You might think both countries would be united against the Balochi separatists, but it’s not so simple.
The border region is a safe haven for Balochi rebels, as well as Sunni Islamists waging guerrilla war on the Shi’ite regime in Iran, and drug cartels shipping heroin to the West.
The disputed and dangerous region is yet another flashpoint, then, in the Middle East – one that has just ignited.
The tinderbox was set alight on Tuesday when Iranian missiles destroyed an alleged Islamic State terrorist base inside Pakistani Balochistan, with two children among the casualties reported.
You might think of Iran as a global pariah. But if its war with Pakistan were to escalate, Tehran would have qualified support from three regional superpowers – Russia, India and China.
The Iranian mullahs have been channelling weapons, including drone systems, to President Putin for his war of conquest in Ukraine.
India, meanwhile, is not only a major customer of Iranian oil, ignoring Western sanctions, but has a historical enmity against Pakistan since partition following the end of the British Raj in 1948.
Diplomatic relations among these uneasy bedfellows might be summed up in that cliche of statecraft: ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’
China has a more pragmatic approach, maintaining strategic, military and trading relationships with both Pakistan and Iran. Ultimately, though, Beijing’s ties to Tehran are probably stronger than those to Islamabad – not least because Chinese businessmen and construction workers on projects in Pakistan have come under repeated attacks from Balochi nationalists.
Strangely, despite what you might think, the tensions between Iran and Pakistan might benefit(itals) the West – albeit for cynical reasons.
Diplomats in Washington and London might reason that any spat between Pakistan and Iran works in our favour.
The Iranians have, after all, been stoking attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Western shipping in the Red Sea, as well as supporting Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel.
The last thing they need is another front for conflict.
Yet a new war could also have troubling repercussions closer to home. The millions of people with Pakistani heritage in Britain often feel strongly about their ancestral country. The intensity of anti-Israel after the October 7 massacres took police here by surprise.
Would similar mass marches and counter-demos spill into our streets if Pakistan marshalled its troops and went to war?
The potential for unrest inside Britain would be enormous, too, if India then became embroiled in the conflict. Clashes between Muslim and Hindu communities, as we have seen in areas like Leicester, would surely reignite.
And always lurking in the background is the nuclear threat. Pakistan has weapons of mass destruction, and Iran is close to developing its own. It has the uranium and the expertise, if not yet the bombs.
We hear the constant refrain these days: ‘The world’s gone mad.’ Let us hope that sanity can still prevail.
