Cargo Moves Again at Pakistan Iran Border

Limited cargo traffic began moving again at the Pakistan Iran border this week after a nine day suspension.

Islamabad halted all cargo traffic through the Gabd-Rimdan and Taftan crossings in Balochistan province on October 17 due to security risks. Mir Naveed Jan Kalmati, president of the Gwadar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said trade partially resumed on the weekend. Border officials cleared consignments dated October 16 or earlier, according to goods truck association officials.

Haji Noor Muhammad Shahwani, central president of the Balochistan Goods Truck Owners Association, confirmed from Quetta that Pakistani exports including rice and bananas are crossing the border. Trucks loaded in Iran before the closure, some carrying liquefied petroleum gas, are also entering Pakistan. Shahwani noted that these vehicles are moving slowly as they clear through the checkpoint.

The pause in LPG imports caused severe shortages and price spikes in Pakistan, a country that relies heavily on Middle Eastern energy imports. The economy has also felt the effects of shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz linked to the conflict between Iran and the United States Israel alliance.

Customs officials instructed clearing agents to file declarations for stranded trucks. Rizwan Ahmed, a customs clearing agent near Gabd-Rimdan, said customs authorized agents to bring in as much cargo as possible. Ahmed did not clarify if this permission applied to goods loaded after October 16. He listed his own exports, which included rice, retail goods, potatoes, and bananas, as having just left the crossing.

Iranian officials argue that changes to import paperwork are blocking their goods. Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, posted on X on Sunday that Iran placed no restrictions on exports to Pakistan. He stated that changes in the implementation of Pakistan’s E-Form procedure for imports have left traders unable to dispatch cargo from Iran to Pakistan.

The E-Form, or EIF, is used to record imports and bank payments. A Commerce Ministry memorandum seen by Al Jazeera on October 16 withdrew a previous waiver for the form that had been in place since October 3. The withdrawal took effect immediately.

Moghadam said consultations with Pakistan are under way. He cited reports that several hundred LPG trucks crossed into Gabd but remained unloaded or uncleared. Shahwani said the unloading issue was unresolved and attributed the delay to banking problems related to international trade.

Gunmen attacked trucks near the Gabd crossing on Thursday. The military reported killing 10 attackers in operations around Gabd and Gwadar city, with one civilian dying. Balochistan accounted for 131 of the 225 armed attacks recorded in Pakistan in September, the highest monthly total in 12 years, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it adheres to all applicable sanctions regimes. Spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan said he did not have direct knowledge of the ground situation and did not confirm if the US pressured Pakistan over the closure. Imtiaz Baloch, a security analyst, said US maximum pressure policies likely influenced the halt either directly or through banking channels, though no official statement linked the two.