Pakistan border traffic with Iran resumes after LPG shortage and paperwork disputes
Freight movement restarted at key crossings in Balochistan, though Iranian officials cite new import rules as a barrier.
By Tunde Bailey ·
Pakistan moved to restart cargo traffic across its western border with Iran on Monday, following a week-long suspension that strained energy supplies and trade routes. The movement of goods began at the Gabd-Rimdan and Taftan crossings in Balochistan province.
Mir Naveed Jan Kalmati, president of the Gwadar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that trade partially resumed over the weekend. Officials with the Balochistan Goods Truck Owners Association confirmed that consignments dated October 16 or earlier were cleared for passage.
Haji Noor Muhammad Shahwani, central president of the truck owners association, reported from Quetta that Pakistani exports including rice and bananas are crossing into Iran. He confirmed that trucks loaded in Iran before the closure, carrying liquefied petroleum gas, are entering Pakistan. Shahwani noted that the process is slow but ongoing.
The suspension of Iranian LPG imports caused severe shortages and price spikes in Pakistan, a country that imports most of its energy from the Middle East. These disruptions compounded economic pressures already caused by shipping interruptions in the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict between Iran and the United States-Israel alliance.
Rizwan Ahmed, a customs clearing agent near Gabd-Rimdan, said officials instructed agents to file declarations for stranded trucks to release them. Ahmed stated that customs authorized agents to bring in as much cargo as possible, though he did not specify if this applied to goods loaded after October 16. His own shipment of rice, potatoes, and bananas had just departed.
Iranian officials dispute the smoothness of the reopening. Ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam posted on X on Sunday that Iran placed no restrictions on exports, including LPG, and kept its borders open. He argued that changes in how Pakistan implements the E-Form import procedure prevent traders from dispatching cargo effectively.
A memorandum from Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce dated October 16 withdrew a previous waiver for the E-Form, a system that records imports and bank payments. This change took immediate effect. Moghadam said consultations were underway, while citing reports that hundreds of LPG trucks had crossed but remained unloaded or uncleared due to banking issues.
The closure followed a security incident in which gunmen attacked trucks near the Gabd crossing on Thursday. The military reported killing 10 attackers in operations around Gabd and Gwadar, with one civilian also killed. Balochistan recorded 131 of the 225 armed attacks nationwide in September, the highest monthly total in 12 years, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, Sajjad Haider Khan, said the country adheres to all applicable sanctions regimes. He did not confirm whether the United States pressured Pakistan to close the border or if the border is fully open. The Ministry of Commerce did not respond to requests for comment.
Deputy Commissioner Bakhtiar Ismail described the closure as a temporary measure for border management and counterterrorism. Security analyst Imtiaz Baloch assessed that US maximum pressure tactics on Iran likely influenced the decision, either directly or through banking channels, though no official statement linked the two. He identified security, technical glitches, and the banking system as the key factors in the disruption.
