Pakistani Trucks Cross Into Iran After Nine-Day Security Halt

Pakistani authorities paused cross-border trade with Iran on October 17, citing security threats in the mountainous Balochistan province. The suspension halted traffic at the Gabd-Rimdan and Taftan crossings, where hundreds of freight trucks typically move goods and people daily. By Monday, that hold had lifted for some cargo, though the full flow of commerce had not yet returned.

Mir Naveed Jan Kalmati, president of the Gwadar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that trade partially resumed over the weekend. Border officials cleared consignments dated October 16 or earlier, according to truck association leaders. Haji Noor Muhammad Shahwani, central president of the Balochistan Goods Truck Owners Association, confirmed that Pakistani exports including rice and bananas were crossing the border from Quetta.

Trucks loaded in Iran before the closure, many carrying liquefied petroleum gas, began entering Pakistan as well. Shahwani noted that these vehicles were moving slowly as they cleared the checkpoint. The pause in LPG imports had already caused severe shortages and price spikes in Pakistan, an economy that relies heavily on Middle East energy imports and is already strained by shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Rizwan Ahmed, a customs clearing agent near the Gabd-Rimdan crossing, reported that customs instructed agents to file declarations for stranded trucks to release them. He said his own consignment of rice, retail goods, potatoes, and bananas had just departed. Ahmed did not specify whether the clearance applied to goods loaded after the October 16 cutoff.

Iranian officials said the resumption is complicated by changes to import paperwork introduced by Islamabad. Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, wrote on X on Sunday that Iran had placed no restrictions on exports, including LPG, and its borders remained open. He argued that changes to the implementation of Pakistan’s E-Form procedure made it effectively impossible for traders to dispatch cargo from Iran to Pakistan.

The trade halt sparked speculation that Pakistan acted under U.S. pressure to economically tighten the grip on Iran. Islamabad maintained the closure was a response to deteriorating security in Balochistan. On Thursday, gunmen attacked trucks waiting near the Gabd crossing. The military announced that 10 attackers were killed in operations around Gabd and Gwadar city, with one civilian also killed.

Balochistan recorded 131 of the 225 armed attacks nationwide in September, the highest monthly national total in 12 years, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies. The province has faced a separatist rebellion for decades. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it adheres to all applicable sanctions regimes. Spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan did not state whether the border was fully open or confirm U.S. involvement.

A Commerce Ministry memorandum dated October 16 withdrew a previous waiver on the E-Form, also known as the EIF, for imports from Iran. The E-Form is used to record imports and payments through banks. The Iranian envoy said consultations were underway and cited reports that several hundred LPG trucks had crossed into Gabd but had not yet been unloaded or cleared. Shahwani suggested the unloading issue might stem from banking problems related to international trade.

Bakhtiar Ismail, deputy commissioner of Chagai, described the closure as a temporary measure to improve border management and support counterterrorism efforts. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei attributed the delays to technical issues. Security analyst Imtiaz Baloch noted that U.S. maximum pressure policies on Iran likely influenced the closure, either directly or through banking channels, though no official statement had linked the two.