Report: The next move designed to economically strangle Iran

Iraq and Pakistan this week closed several land border crossings with Iran, which are very vital to its economy – the Wall Street Journal reported. The move was made against the background of the continuation of the naval blockade against Iran, in an attempt to damage Tehran’s economy.

In Iraq they officially claimed that this was an effort to curb smuggling, and in Pakistan they hinted that the move was related to the enforcement of sanctions against Iran. As of September 29, approximately 17,000 trucks were waiting at Iran’s borders with Turkey, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, and the waiting times for the crossing usually reached 20 days, according to media reports in Iran.

The truck drivers’ union in Iran said that some drivers had to abandon loads of fruit and other agricultural produce that spoiled during the wait.

The closure of the crossings in Pakistan also left more than 4,500 tons of bottled gas, one of the last energy products Tehran still exports, stuck on the Iranian side of the border.

Earlier this month, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said he was working with Pakistan and Turkey to cut off Iran’s land traffic routes. The US is moving beyond financial sanctions to wage a “total isolation campaign” against Iran, Bessant said at the Newsmax Policy Summit.

An official in the Trump administration said that the US economic campaign “isolates the Iranian regime and brings it to a state of despair”.

Other crossing points along Iran’s borders remain open. However, the closures that have been carried out exacerbate the congestion at the land crossings.