Ties with Iran

In the larger context of Pakistan’s regional tensions with Afghanistan and India, it is the potential of a long-standing partnership with neighbouring Iran that gets ignored. Our relationship with Iran has never been a simple one. The possibility of a genuine friendship that goes beyond strategic interests has been explored often, but as with international relations, has not been managed well. Pakistan and Iran became allies in the 1950s through their alliance with the US in the cold war. The possibility of long-term relations continued to be explored even as Iran faced US-led sanctions over its nuclear programme. Pakistan continued to remain committed – at least on paper – to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline despite US opposition. The fact that it never became a reality remains one of the key reasons why Iran continues to view Pakistan in a more sceptical light. Relations between Iran and Pakistan soured earlier this year when militants attacked Iranian border patrol from Pakistani soil. The Iranian army chief threatened to cross into Pakistani soil but better sense prevailed. Tensions between the two countries have been under ridden by Pakistan’s concerns over Iran’s attempt to develop the Chahbahar port as an alternative trade hub to Gwadar.

Pakistan’s relations with Iran have slowly returned to normal but normal in our context has begun to mean that they have reached a non-confrontational nature. The unfortunate fact is that the real potential of fully exploring our relationships with our neighbours has never been much of a priority. In this context, the visit of Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani accompanied by a parliamentary delegation for the swearing in Iranian President Rouhani is a step in the right direction. Rabbani has reminded the two countries that they must do more to achieve the target of $5 billion in trade. Trade remains one of the pillars of international relations and underpins mutual interdependency. The potential for trade with Iran has been rich since Pakistan was formed but it has rarely been explored. The need for bilateral meetings between politicians on both sides is obvious, but there are lots of nagging issues to resolve. Pakistan’s participation in the Saudi-led military alliance for the Middle East has been a cause for concern, even though Iran has not publically made such a declaration. The Iran relationship is one that has a lot of potential for Pakistan. But it is one that is easy to sour. More work is needed on this end.