Iran-Pakistan relations

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An Iranian stamp commemorating Mohammad Ali Jennah's 100th birth anniversary, printed in 1976.

Iran and Pakistan have had relations ever since the birth of Pakistan in 1947 and was the first country to do so in terms of recognition of the newly created nation-state which at that time included what is now known as Bangladesh since 1971.

During the Shah's era, Iran moved closer to Pakistan to offset a communist flavored India. After the Iranian Revolution, Pakistan was the among the first countries to recognize the new Iranian government.

Among the problems that drive Iran and Pakistan to a common ground is the Baluchestan issue.

During the 1990s, Abdul Qadeer Khan was allegedly involved in selling sensitive technology to Iran, particularly P-1 centrifuge systems.

Despite relations with Pakistan, Iran also maintains a balancing act via holding relations with Pakistan's rival India. Despite of difference of policies between Pakistan and Iran on the Taliban issue, both the countries were able to maintain a fairly good relations. The Indian factor has nothing to do with the relations between the two countries. Both Pakistan and Iran opposed the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan and coordinated their policies on that matter. Both the countries are partners in an economic regional organization (ECO), a forerunner of Regional Co-operation for Development (RCD), which was established in 1964 along with Turkey. Within the regional organizational framework both countries continue to cooperate with each other on various matters of mutual interest.

There is no border dispute between the two countries nor is there any difference of perception with each other on ethnic and sectarian matters. In fact, Pakistan's cultural and religious heritage originates from Iran. The national anthem of Pakistan is written 90 per cent in Persian, the language of Iran and Pakistan's national poet Muhammad Iqbal wrote half of his poetry in Persian.

Furthermore, Pakistan and Iran have been partners in CENTO (Central Treaty Organization), a defence treaty along with Turkey and the United States.

Relations between Iran and Pakistan have improved since after the removal of Taliban in 2002. It is expected that Pakistan will enter into a gigantic gas project with Iran in the near future. In 2005, Iran and Pakistan had US$500 million of trade. The Iran-India pipeline is currently a major development between all three nations that could have large outcomes.