Pakistan Opens Six Overland Corridors to Iran to Bypass U.S. Naval Blockade

Pakistan’s Commerce Ministry issued an order on April 25 to allow goods from third countries to travel by road through its territory to Iran. Six transit routes now link Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar with Iranian crossings at Gabd and Taftan. The shortest corridor from Gwadar cuts travel time to the Iranian border from 16–18 hours to just 2–3 hours. Officials say transport costs could drop by up to 55 percent as more than 3,000 containers remain stranded at Karachi port under the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The announcement coincided with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s visit to Islamabad amid stalled U.S.–Iran talks and Pakistani mediation efforts. Many see this move as Pakistan’s direct economic response to the ongoing impasse. Who will blink first? The U.S. “sit-at-home” strategy seems bruised by this development. Iran is standing its ground as a sovereign nation. I hope we don’t end up with another Afghanistan scenario after the U.S. spent trillions to replace one Taliban with another.

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