ISLAMABAD (AP) — Iranian and Pakistani leaders agreed to strengthen economic and security cooperation in a meeting on Monday that sought to smooth over a diplomatic rift between the countries.

Ties between Iran and Pakistan were strained in January when each carried out

strikes in other’s territory

, targeting militants accused of attacking their own security forces.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifin and other officials as part of his three-day visit to Pakistan. Authorities deployed hundreds of additional police and paramilitary forces to ensure security during the visit.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant violence in recent months,

mostly blamed

on Pakistani

Taliban

and insurgents targeting security forces in Pakistan and neighboring Iran.

According to a statement following their meeting, the two leaders discussed a range of bilateral issues and vowed to cooperate to fight terrorism. They also reiterated their condemnations of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

Sharif praised Iran’s “strong stand on the issue of Palestine,” and said “Pakistan is also with the Palestinians.”

Raisi said that the killings by Israel in Gaza were being committed with the support of the United States and other Western countries. He criticized the international organizations, including the United Nations, saying, "They say they support human rights, but they proved that they are inefficient”.

He also vowed to boost what he called “unacceptably” meager bilateral trade with Pakistan and called for setting up more border markets. Pakistan and Iran set up the first such border market in southwestern Pakistan's Baluchistan province last year, promising five more under a 2012 agreement.

The two leaders also signed eight cooperation agreements, according to Sharif's office.

Authorities said the two sides also discussed the multi-billion gas pipeline project, on hold since 2014. The project — opposed by Washington as a violation of sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program — launched in 2013 to supply Iranian natural gas to energy-starved Pakistan.

Iran says it had already completed the pipeline on its side of the border after investing $2 billion. Pakistan was supposed to finish construction on its territory by the end of 2014, but work stalled, leading to tensions between the two nations.

The Iranian president later met with his Pakistani counterpart Asil Ali Zardari, who helped launch the pipeline project after traveling to Iran in 2013.

Raisi also met with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. The two discussed regional and global developments and “affirmed commitment to peace and constructive dialogue for resolving regional challenges."

Raisi is accompanied by his spouse and a high-level delegation. He plans to visit Karachi, the country's biggest city, and Lahore, where he will meet with the country's recently elected first female chief minister, Maryam Nawaz Sharif.

The visit comes after Iran's strikes on Israel, and an apparent Israeli response. Pakistan is among the countries that has no diplomatic relations with Israel because of the issue of Palestinian statehood.