Within 10 days of having decided to deploy more warships to patrol the Arabian Sea, the Pakistan navy now has five vessels out at sea, mostly centred around the Strait of Hormuz, the mouth of the Persian Gulf, which is a vital route used by crude and gas-carrying merchant ships.

A member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was shot in the country's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported on Wednesday.

Sources said the Pakistan navy was operating close to the Iranian coast and also had a ship in the Persian Gulf.

They said the Pakistan navy was far away from the locations of the Indian Navy’s unprecedented peace-time deployment of 12 ships in the Arabian Sea.

Since the first week of December, the Indian Navy has ramped up its ship strength from two to 12.

Iran and Pakistan yesterday conducted a naval exercise off the coast of Bandar Abbas in Iran. In a sudden turn of events, Pakistan today recalled its ambassador from Tehran, blaming Iran for a missile strike on a terror camp in Balochistan.

On January 7, the Pakistan navy had said it was increasing its maritime assets at sea in the wake of recent security incidents in the Arabian Sea. It said, “Two or three ships always patrol the areas where Pakistan-bound and international merchant ships ply”.

The sources said Pakistan’s five warships out at sea were PNS Shamsheer, PNS Aslat, PNS Moawin, PNS Madadgar and PMSS Zhob.

In addition, extensive air surveillance was also being undertaken, the Pakistan navy had said, clarifying that it had not joined any US-led coalition or Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea. The Pakistan navy said it was protecting Pakistan-bound shipping and international shipping and had “nothing to do with the Hamas and Israel conflict”.

“We fully support the Palestinian cause in accordance with the government policy… and are not party to any conflict between Houthis and Israel,” the Pakistan navy had said.

Meanwhile, the day-long Pakistan-Iran exercise was a training drill, which included naval tactical manoeuvres, communication and telecommunication check operation, practice of sending and receiving messages in emergency situations at sea, tactical formations and flag and signal practice at sea.