Hyderabad, June 16 -- In the increasing Middle East tensions, a high-ranking Iranian military commander asserted that Pakistan would counterattack with nuclear weapons if Israel were to attack Iran with nukes.

General Mohsen Rezaei, an influential leader of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a member of the Iranian National Security Council, said that in a televised interview.

"Pakistan has promised that if Israel ever uses a nuclear bomb against Iran, they will fire a nuclear bomb at Israel," Rezaei said, as tensions between Iran and Israel escalated over the weekend.

The ongoing hostilities have already claimed at least 248 lives, 230 in Iran and 18 in Israel, amid a heavy exchange of missiles. While Rezaei's stateme...