Iran and Pakistan: Revisiting 78 years of time-tested ties

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian is due to start his two-day state visit to Pakistan on Saturday while the relations of the two neighboring countries have gained new significance in terms of regional and international developments.

In the wake of Pakistan’s rival India reassessing its ties with Russia, U.S. and West on one side, and the heightened tensions in the West Asia including the Iran-Israel war in June on the other, the statesmen in Islamabad and Tehran seem poised to reassess their ties beyond bilateral issues of trade or security concerns in Afghanistan.

According to the Political Advisor to Iranian President Mehdi Sanaei, President Pezeshkian’s program includes visit the tomb of the prominent politician and poet Allama Iqbal and meeting with Pakistani President, Prime Minister, and Chief of Army Staff of the Armed Forces as well as cultural and commercial elites.

In a post on his X account, Sanaei wrote: Relations between the two countries have political, economic, religious and cultural dimensions. The development of provincial and border cooperation and the promotion of exchanges from the current $3 billion are among the goals of the visit.

Pakistani Premier Shehbaz Sharif visited Iran last May in his second visit to Tehran in less than a year.

Tehran and Islamabad share a history of close relations, marked by frequent high-level visits between top officials focusing on bilateral ties, particularly in economic and commercial areas. They have also addressed regional security concerns and have shared interests in the Middle East and South Asia.

Iran was the first country to recognize independence of Pakistan in 1947, and their foreign ministers regularly exchange views on phone and at the regional and international events including the Organization of Islamic Countries, the Economic Cooperation Organization, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

However, it appears that the India factor in Pakistan’s foreign policy plus the Israel factor in Iran’s foreign policy have gained further significance following the recent developments in the South and West Asia bringing Islamabad and Tehran closer together.

The pivot to Israel by India, the flag-bearer of Non-Aligned Movement and a country which once heralded the Palestinian cause of an independent state, has not missed the eyes of Tehran. Also New Delhi’s procrastination in development of Iran’s southeast Chabahar port in Oman Sea and its continued harsh treatment of Muslims have made politicians in Tehran to doubt their traditionally friendly ties with India.

At the same time, the 12-day Israel-U.S. invasion of Iran and their airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites under UN safeguards has rang the alarms in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Islamabad which does not have diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv because of Islamic values and its close ties with New Delhi, condemned the Israeli aggression on Iran as violation of a sovereign country’s territory.

In the meantime, Iran, thanks to its historically close ties with Pakistan and India, mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan last May after a deadly terrorist attack in the Indian-Administered Kashmir. However, the dispute over the divided region of Kashmir has overweighed similar reconciliation initiatives for the past seven decades. 

As Iranian President Pezeshkian is scheduled to fly to Pakistan on Saturday, the ongoing developments are expected to require Tehran and Islamabad also exchange views on revisiting their 78 years of ties beyond the current bilateral issues.

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