Iran–Pakistan Relations

Iran and Pakistan established relations on 14 August 1947, the day of the independence of Pakistan, when Iran became the first country to recognize Pakistan. Both countries remain close allies and formed alliances in a number of areas of mutual interest, such as combating the drug trade along their border and the insurgency in Balochistan.

During the Cold War (1945–1991), both countries were part of the Western Bloc against the Eastern Bloc. They were founding members of the anti-communist alliance CENTO. Iran aided Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Both countries shared a common animosity towards Baloch separatists and cooperated in the 1970s Balochistan operation. Iran backed Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Following the Iranian Revolution (1978–1979), which overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty, Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the Islamic Republic of Iran. During the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989), Iran backed the Pakistan-funded Afghan mujahideen and Pakistan supported Iran in the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988). Following the September 11 attacks, Iran and Pakistan joined the war on terror. Pakistan has often served as a mediator in the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict. Pakistan has also provided support to Iran in the Iran–Israel proxy conflict

Pakistan is one of the few countries where Iranian influence is positively received as per polls conducted by the Pew Research Center. Polls have consistently shown that a very high proportion of Pakistanis view their western neighbour positively. Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei has also called for the sympathy, assistance, and inter-cooperation of all Muslim nations, including Pakistan. Iran has also expressed an interest in joining the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor as part of the larger Belt and Road Initiative. After the U.S. complete withdrawal of its troops and the Taliban return to power in the 2020s, Pakistan has stepped up cooperation with Iran to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan.

History

Antiquity

The regions that comprise today's Iran and Pakistan have been under the rule of contiguous Eurasian polities at various points in history, as Pakistan straddles an intermediary zone between the Iranian Plateau and Indian subcontinent. The Persian Achaemenid Empire, which spanned (among other regions) the area between the Balkans and the area of the Indus River (known to the Persians as ''Hind'') at its height, conquered the regions comprising modern-day Pakistani provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the reign of Darius I.

Relations before 1971

Imperial Iran maintained close relations with Pakistan during the Cold War, partly owing to their mutual alliance with the United States-led Western Bloc. Iran was the first country to recognize Pakistan as an independent state, and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the first head of any state to make an official state visit to Pakistan (in March 1950). Since 1947, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, had successfully advocated a policy of fostering cordial relations with the Muslim world and Iran in particular. After Pakistan gained its independence in August 1947, Iran was one of the first countries to recognize its sovereign status.

In May 1950, a treaty of friendship was signed by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Some of the clauses of the treaty of friendship had wider geopolitical significance. Pakistan found a natural partner in Iran after the Indian government chose to support Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was seeking to export a pan-Arab ideology that threatened many of the more traditional Arab monarchies, a number of which were allied with the Shah of Iran. Harsh V. Pant, a foreign policy writer, noted that Iran was a natural ally and model for Pakistan for other reasons as well. Both countries granted each other MFN status for trade purposes; the Shah offered Iranian oil and gas to Pakistan on generous terms, and the Iranian and Pakistani militaries extensively cooperated to suppress the rebel movement in Baluchistan. During the Shah's era, Iran moved closer to Pakistan in many fields. Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey joined the United States-sponsored Central Treaty Organization, which extended a defensive alliance along with the Soviet Union's southern perimeter. Iran played an important role in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, providing Pakistan with nurses, medical supplies, and a gift of 5,000 tons of petroleum. Iran also indicated that it was considering an embargo on oil supplies to India for the duration of the armed conflict. The Indian government firmly believed that Iran had blatantly favoured Pakistan and sought to undermine India during the war. After the suspension of American military aid to Pakistan, Iran was reported to have purchased ninety F-86 Sabrejet fighter planes from West Germany, and subsequently delivered them to Pakistan.

Although Pakistan's decision to join the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in 1955 was largely motivated by its security imperatives regarding India, Pakistan did not sign on until Iran was satisfied that the British government was not going to obstruct the nationalization of British oil companies in Iran. According to Dr Mujtaba Razvi, Pakistan likely would not have joined CENTO had Iran been negatively affected during these events.

1970s

Iran again played a vital role for Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, this time supplying military equipment as well as diplomatic support against India. The Shah described the Indian attack as blatant aggression and interference in Pakistan's domestic/internal affairs; in an interview with a Parisian newspaper he openly acknowledged that "We are one hundred percent behind Pakistan". Iranian Prime Minister Amir-Abbas Hoveida followed suit, saying that "Pakistan has been subjected to violence and force." The Iranian leadership repeatedly expressed its opposition to the dismemberment of Pakistan, fearing it would adversely affect the domestic stability and security of Iran by encouraging Kurdish and Baloch separatists to rise up against the Iranian government. In the same vein, Iran attempted to justify its supplying of arms to Pakistan on the grounds that, in its desperation, Pakistan might fall into the lap of the Chinese (a communist rival to the U.S.-led Western Bloc).

The subsequent breakup of Pakistan in December 1971 convinced Iran that extraordinary effort was needed to protect the stability and territorial integrity of its eastern flank. With the emergence of Bangladesh as a separate state, the " Two-Nation Theory/Pakistan Movement" as well as the state of Pakistan itself had received a severe negative blow to its reputation and questions arose in the Iranian establishment as to whether the residual western part of Pakistan could hold together and remain a single country. Events of this period caused significant perceptional changes in Tehran regarding Pakistan.

When a widespread armed insurgency broke out in Pakistan's Balochistan province in 1973, Iran, fearing the Baloch insurgency might spill over into its own Sistan and Baluchistan Province, offered large-scale support. Iran provided Pakistan with military hardware (including thirty AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters), intelligence, and $200 million in aid. The government of then- Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto declared its belief that, as in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, India was once again behind the unrest and uprising of rebels in the Balochistan region. However, the Indian government denied any involvement, and claimed that it was fearful of further balkanisation of the subcontinent. After three years of fighting the uprising was majorly suppressed.

In addition to military aid, the Shah of Iran offered considerable developmental aid to Pakistan, including oil and gas on preferential terms. Pakistan was a developing country and small power while Iran, in the 1960-70s, had the world's fifth-largest military, a strong economic/industrial base and was the clear, undisputed regional superpower. However, Iran's total dependence on the United States at that time for its economic development and military build-up had won it hostility from the more Soviet-aligned Arab world. Brief tensions between Iran and Pakistan arose in 1974, when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi refused to attend the Islamic Conference in Lahore because Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been – despite the known hostility between two – invited to it by Pakistan. Later in 1976, Iran again played a vital and influential role by facilitating a rapprochement between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Iran's reaction to India's surprise 1974 nuclear test detonation (codenamed ''Smiling Buddha'') was muted. During a state visit to Iran in 1977, Pakistani PM Bhutto tried to persuade Pahlavi to support Pakistan's own clandestine atomic bomb project. Although the Shah's response is not officially known, there are indications that he refused to oblige Bhutto.

In July 1977, following political agitation by an opposition alliance, Bhutto was forced out of office in a military coup d'état. The new military dictatorship government, under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, was ideologically ultraconservative and religiously oriented in its nature and approach in contrast to the more secular Iran at the time.

Relationship after the Iranian Revolution

Bhutto was ousted by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in a military coup. This was followed a half year later by the Iranian Revolution, which established an Islamic republic and overthrew of the Shah of Iran. In 1979, Pakistan was one of the first countries in the world to recognize the new revolutionary regime in Iran. Responding swiftly to this revolutionary change, Foreign Minister of Pakistan Agha Shahi immediately undertook a state visit to Tehran, meeting with his Iranian counterpart Karim Sanjabi on 10 March 1979. Both expressed confidence that Iran and Pakistan were going to march together to a brighter future. Agha Shahi held talks with the Ayatollah, Ruhollah Khomeini, in which developments in the region were discussed.

Iran's supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, withdrew the country from CENTO and ended its association with the United States. Iran and Pakistan had religiously influenced leaders, with Khomeini being a Shia Muslim while Zia being a Sunni Muslim. Despite Shia–Sunni divisions, the common desire for a pan-Islamic identity became an important factor in shaping new Iranian–Pakistani relations. On 11 April 1979, General Zia famously declared that "Khomeini is a symbol of Islamic insurgence". Reciprocating Zia-ul-Haq's sentiments, Khomeini, in a letter, called for Muslim unity. He declared: "Ties with Pakistan are based on Islam." According to the ''Sahifeh-ye Imam'', in May 1988 (15 Shawwal 1408), responding to Zia's greeting card on Eid al-Fitr, Khomeini sent peace and mercy upon Zia.

Iranian influence on Pakistan's Shi'a community

Relations between Shi'a-majority Iran and Sunni-majority Pakistan became greatly strained due to sectarian tensions in the 1980s, as Pakistani Shi'a Muslims claimed that they were being discriminated against under the Sunni-biased Islamization program being imposed throughout Pakistan by the military dictatorship government of then-President, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran and Saudi Arabia (considered the "leading state authority" of Shi'a and Sunni Muslims, respectively) gradually began to use Pakistan as a battleground for their proxy sectarian conflict, and Pakistan's support for the Deobandi Taliban movement in Afghanistan during the civil wars in the 1990s became a problem for Shi'a-led Iran, which opposed a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan at the time.

Iranian leaders had sought to extend their sphere of influence into Pakistan and to counter Saudi influence. As such, a pro-Iranian stance amongst many politicized Pakistani Shi'as remains widespread. Many Pakistani Shi'a websites and books are filled with writings advocating the Khomeini regime. Since the 1980s, Pakistan had once again formed close ties with the United States, which it largely maintained for decades until Imran Khan's PTI took power.

Pakistani support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq War

Iran had a revolution in 1979 and the Ayatollah's threats to export "Red Shi'a" revolutionary influence throughout Iran's neighbouring regions eventually led Saddam Hussein's Sunni-controlled and secular Iraq, backed by the United States and the rest of the Arab world, to invade the country in 1980. The invasion signalled the start of the deadly Iran-Iraq War that would last for eight years until 1988. While Pakistan remained largely neutral, Ruhollah Khomeini's continued threats to export Iranian revolutionary sentiment fuelled tensions between Pakistan's Sunnis and Shi'as. The rising militancy among Shi'a Muslims in neighbouring countries such as Iraq and Pakistan inspired by revolutionary Iran had left many Sunni Muslims in Pakistan feeling deeply threatened. Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq, despite his pro-Saudi, pro-Sunni and anti-Shi'a sentiments, had to manage his country's security carefully, knowing that Pakistan (due to its alliance with the United States) risked being dragged into a war with its western neighbour, one that it could most likely not afford due to its preoccupations with India in the east. In support of the Gulf Cooperation Council that was formed in 1981, around 40,000 personnel of the Pakistan Armed Forces were stationed in Saudi Arabia to reinforce the internal and external security of the region. The killing of Shi'a pilgrims in the 1987 Mecca incident in Saudi Arabia had met with widespread disturbances and condemnation throughout Pakistan, but Zia-ul-Haq remained firmly neutral and strongly issued orders against engaging any involved parties to Pakistani military personnel stationed in the Gulf. Many U.S.-built Stingers as well as various Chinese weaponry and ammunition shipped to Pakistan primarily for use by the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets were instead sold to Iran, which proved to be a defining factor for Iran in the Tanker War against Iraq. Despite immense pressure from the United States and other Arab states, Pakistan never openly supported Iraq and provided operational/financial aid to Iran albeit the deployment of troops in Saudi Arabia was for the sole purpose of defending the country from any potential attacks by the Iranians.

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Afghan Civil War

In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support the pro-Soviet, communist Afghan government against Islamist uprisings, protect its interests in Central Asia and also as a response to established or growing American influence/dominance in the Middle East – notably in Israel, Iran (until the 1979 revolution), Iraq, and many other Arab states. In 1980, Iraq's invasion of Iran with backing from both superpowers (the United States and the Soviet Union) and other major powers improved an internationally isolated Iran's dysfunctional ties with Pakistan. During the Soviet-Afghan War, Pakistan alongside other major powers such as the United States and China focused its covert support on the Sunni Pashtun groups (a majority in Afghanistan) while Iran largely supported the Shi'a Tajik groups, though they were all united as Afghan mujahideen in waging war against the Soviet invaders.

After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and subsequent victory for the Afghan mujahideen, the rivalry between Iran and Pakistan intensified as the mujahideen broke up into multiple factions, no longer needing a union against foreign invaders. After 1989, Iran and Pakistan's policies in Afghanistan became ever more divergent as Pakistan, under Benazir Bhutto, explicitly supported Taliban forces in Afghanistan during the civil wars that erupted after the Soviet-Afghan War ended. This resulted in a major breach, with Iran becoming closer to Pakistan's rival, India. Pakistan's unwavering and continuous support for the Sunni Taliban organization in Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal became a problem for Shi'a Iran which opposed a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The Pakistani-backed Taliban fought the Iranian-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and gained control of 90 percent of the country, including the capital city of Kabul. The Taliban established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and began imposing ultraconservative and radical Wahhabi rule. As noted by a Pakistani foreign service officer, it was difficult to maintain good relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Iran at the same time, given each state's back-and-forth rivalry with another, and in particular, Iran's rivalry with all three. In 1995 Bhutto paid a lengthy state visit to Iran, which greatly relaxed relations. At a public meeting, she spoke highly of Iran and Iranian society. However, increasing activity by Shi'a militants in Pakistan strained relations further. This was followed by the Taliban's capture of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, in which thousands of Shi'a Muslims were massacred, according to Amnesty International. The most serious breach in relations came in 1998, after Iran accused the Taliban government's forces of taking 11 Iranian diplomats, 35 Iranian truck drivers and an Iranian journalist hostage, and later executing all of them. Iran massed over 300,000 troops on the Afghan–Iranian border and threatened to invade Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, a government which it had never recognized. This strained Iran's relations with Pakistan, which continued to support the Taliban government. In May 1998, Pakistan conducted its first-ever nuclear weapons tests (codenamed ''Chagai-I''), detonating five nuclear weapons at a controlled facility in its Balochistan province in response to Indian tests (codenamed ''Pokhran-II'') a few days earlier, both events would later lead to U.N. sanctions on both Pakistan and India but did not stop either country from continuing to conduct more tests. Pakistan had now become the seventh country in the world to acquire nuclear weapons (after the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France, China and India). Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif acknowledged Pakistan's nuclear capability and tests on 7 September 1997. Iran congratulated Pakistan for its nuclear testing.

Bilateral and multilateral visits in the late 1990s

In 1995, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto paid a state visit to Iran to lay the groundwork for a memorandum on energy, and begin work on an energy security agreement between the two countries. This was followed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to Tehran for the 8th OIC Summit Conference on 9–11 December 1997. While there, Sharif held talks with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, with a view to improving bilateral relations, as well as finding a solution to the crisis in Afghanistan.

Chief Executive of Pakistan under a military dictatorship, General Pervez Musharraf paid a two-day visit to Tehran on 8–9 December 1999. This was his first visit to Iran (and third international trip) since his military coup d'état of 12 October 1999 and subsequent seizure of power in Pakistan. In Iran, Musharraf held talks with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and with the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. This visit was arranged to allow Musharraf to explain the reasons for his takeover in Pakistan.

The meetings included discussions on the situation in Afghanistan, which were intended to lead both countries to "coordinate the policies of our two countries for encouraging the peace process through reconciliation and dialogue among the Afghan parties".

In 1998, Iran accused Pakistan of committing war crimes in Bamyan, Afghanistan, claiming that Pakistani warplanes had bombarded Afghanistan's last Shi'a stronghold in support of the Taliban government. Iran considers northern and western Afghanistan as its sphere of influence since its population is Persian Dari speaking. Pakistan considers southern and eastern Afghanistan as its sphere of influence since it is Pashto and Baloch speaking such as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, respectively.

Relations since 2000

Since 2000, relations between Iran and Pakistan have steered towards normalization, and economic cooperation has strengthened. The September 11 attacks on the United States changed the foreign policy priorities of both countries. The George W. Bush administration's tough stance against terrorism following the attacks forced the then-Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharraf to support Washington's War on Terror campaign against the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. The subsequent U.S.-led coalition invasion would end the first Taliban regime. Though Iranian officials initially welcomed the invasion and deposition of the Taliban, they soon found themselves encircled by U.S. forces in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the Persian Gulf.

George W. Bush's inclusion of the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of an "axis of evil" (alongside Iraq and North Korea) also led some Iranian officials to presume that Tehran might be next in line for regime change, ending whatever ''détente'' had occurred in Iran–U.S. ties under Mohammad Khatami. Bush's emphasis on transformative diplomacy and democratization accompanied by an aggressive American military campaign worried Iranian leaders further.

Nevertheless, changes in geopolitics have increased strategic convergence between the two countries, Iran has also expressed an interest in joining the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor as part of the larger Belt and Road Initiative. With the alienation of Pakistan and the United States, China has become the most important strategic partner of both Iran and Pakistan. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have recently improved under the policies of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, who sought to expand Pakistan's relationship with Iran, and the two countries' joint support for the stability of Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in 2021. He also offered to serve as a mediator between Saudi Arabia and Iran in their proxy conflict.

Military relations

Iranian support for Pakistan dates back to the 1960s when Iran supplied Pakistan with American military weaponry and spare parts after America cut off their military aid to Pakistan. After the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, the new Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto immediately withdrew Pakistan from CENTO and SEATO after Bhutto thought that the military alliances failed to protect or appropriately assist Pakistan and instead alienated the Soviet Union. A serious military cooperation took place during the Balochistan insurgency phases against the armed separatist movement in 1974–77. Around 100,000 Pakistan and Iranian troops were involved in quelling the separatist organizations in Balochistan and successfully put the resistance down in 1978–80. In May 2014, the two countries agreed to joint operations against terrorists and drug traffickers in the border regions.

Despite complex ties between the two neighbours have been shaped by bilateral security concerns and strategic interests, defense cooperation between Pakistan and Iran is strengthening as Pakistan draws closer to China. Iran and Pakistan are both members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Trilateral Consultation between China, Pakistan and Iran are also committed to counter-terrorism and security cooperation. The navies of Pakistan and Iran regularly hold joint exercises in the Arabian Sea.

Iran and Pakistan have agreed to strengthen defense ties and jointly produce military hardware. The Iranian air force has ordered approximately 25 MFI-17 Mushshaks from Pakistan.

On 16 June 2025, during the Israel–Iran conflict, Iranian commander and national security council member Mohsen Rezaee claimed on state television that Pakistan has assured Iran it would launch a nuclear strike on Israel if Israel were to use nuclear weapons against Iran. Rezaee also said Iran possesses "undisclosed" military capabilities. However, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif dismissed the claim. On the same day, Pakistan closed all border crossings with Iran in light of heightened tensions and escalations between Iran and Israel.

Balochistan conflict

Both Iran and Pakistan face attacks by Baloch separatist militants in restive Balochistan region, leading to souring relations and mutual recriminations. The Balochistan Liberation Army and the Jaish ul-Adl are often accused of operating in each other's territory.

In 2019, following a suicide bombing in Khash–Zahedan which killed 27 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and wounded 13 others, Iranian officials criticized Pakistan. Iranian Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari asked Pakistan to conduct a crackdown against armed group Jaish ul-Adl before Tehran takes revenge on the group. In February 2019, Bahram Ghasemi, speaking for the Foreign Ministry of Iran, said it would not tolerate what it saw as Pakistan's "inability to stop cross-border attacks in Iran". Pakistan, in turn, offered Iran cooperation in investigating the bombing and expressed sympathy for the victims of the attack. A Pakistani delegation was due to travel to Iran. On 12 May 2020 following a terrorist attack on the Pakistan-Iran border which killed six Pakistani soldiers and injured 1, COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mohammad Bagheri had a telephonic conversation in which both commanders discussed ways to deal with the current ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and border security and then agreed to enhance border security.

In September 2021, the Pakistani military said one of its soldiers was killed and another soldier was injured in an attack that "targeted a Frontier Corps border post from Iranian territory". No group claimed responsibility and Iranian authorities did not comment. In June 2023, there was a terrorist attack at the Iran Pakistan border. Some Pakistan border patrol officers were killed. A few days before that, there was another terrorist attack at the border and 5 Iranian border patrol officers were killed.

On 16 January 2024, Iran carried out an operation targeting the headquarters of Balochi terrorist group Jaish al-Adl with drone and missile strikes, on Pakistani soil, killing 2 children. This prompted the retaliatory operation "Marg Bar Saramchar" from Pakistan on 18 January 2024, targeting terrorists in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, killing 4 children and 3 women, following warning of consequences for impeding on Pakistan's airspace and sovereignty, and dissolving diplomatic relations with Iran. Pakistan claimed that "2 innocent children were killed". The spokesperson for the Foreign ministry of Affairs of Pakistan stated "Pakistan reserves the right to respond to this illegal act". On 17 January 2024, Pakistan announced the return of its ambassador in protest against the missiles and drones Iran launched into its territory the prior day. Later that day, Pakistan claimed responsibility for a series of explosions in a village within the Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan. Like Iran, Pakistan claimed to be targeting terrorists, specifically Baluchi militant groups.

On 14 April 2025, eight Pakistani nationals were killed in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province, near the border with Pakistan. The victims were found in Mehrestan County, though their identities and the circumstances of their deaths remained under investigation. The Pakistani Embassy in Tehran cooperated with Iranian authorities to repatriate the bodies. The incident followed the series of cross-border tensions between Iran and Jaish al-Adl militants inside Pakistan, and between Pakistan and the Baloch Liberation Front and Army within Iran. Both militant groups operate in the restive, underdeveloped, and resource-rich border regions of Pakistan's Balochistan and Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan. These exchanges marked the most significant military confrontations between the two countries in recent years.

Economic perspective

Due to international sanctions and poor infrastructure in border areas, the potential of bilateral trade has not been fully realized, and there are problems with smuggling and drug trafficking.

Preferential Trade Agreement

In 2005, Iran and Pakistan had conducted US$500 million of trade. The land border at Taftan is the conduit for trade in electricity and oil. Iran is extending its railway network towards Taftan.

Trade between the two countries has increased by £1.4 billion in 2009. In 2007–08, annual Pakistan merchandise trade with Iran consisted of $256 million in imports and $218.6 million in export, according to WTO.

Bilateral trade

On 12 January 2001, Pakistan and Iran formed a "Pakistan-Iran Joint Business Council" (PIJB) body on trade disputes. The body works on to encourage the privatization in Pakistan and economic liberalization on both sides of the countries. In 2012, the bilateral trade exceeded $3 billion. Official figures from the State Bank of Pakistan for the fiscal year 2011–12 indicate imports of $124 million and exports of $131 million, which had collapsed to $36 million of exports to Iran and less than $1 million of imports for the year to April 2015. In 2011, the trade between Iran and Pakistan stood at less than $1 billion and the common geographical borders, as well as religious affinities, are among other factors, which give impetus to an enhanced level of trade. According to the media reports, Iran is the second-largest market of Basmati rice