Pakistan and Iran announced on Monday that their ambassadors would return to each other’s capitals this week after diplomatic ties were shaken by deadly airstrikes.

The ambassadors would rejoin the embassies in Islamabad and Tehran from Friday, the foreign ministries in both capitals said in a joint statement.

The Muslim neighbours expelled each other ambassadors last week as they downgraded diplomatic relations following tit-for-tat airstrikes in each other’s territories to hunt down insurgents.

Iran targeted the alleged hideouts of Sunni Islamist militant groups inside Pakistan last Tuesday, reportedly killing two children.

Pakistan responded on Thursday by pounding the suspected hideouts in Iran of nationalist separatists Islamabad blames for violent attacks in the past, killing at least nine people including children.

There were fears that the strikes might turn into or trigger another conflict in a region already reeling from the Israeli war against the Hamas militant group in Gaza.

But by the intervention of global bodies like the United Nations and an offer to mediate by regional power China has de-escalated the situation.

The statement said Iran’s top diplomat would visit Islamabad on Jan. 29.