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🚨 Iranian trucks remain stranded at the Pakistan border as Pakistan exploits the Islamic Republic’s growing desperation and collapsing trade lifelines.

After pressure on its traditional maritime and UAE-linked trade routes, the Islamic Republic increasingly promoted Pakistan as… pic.twitter.com/gqtGwZjfno

— The Iran Watcher (@TheIranWatcher) September 4, 2026

After pressure on its traditional maritime and UAE-linked trade routes, the Islamic Republic increasingly promoted Pakistan as an eastern alternative.

Now trucks are backed up at the Pishin–Mand crossing, with a driver claiming Pakistan is demanding 2.3 billion tomans, roughly $10,000, per heavy truck. The exact nature of the charge remains unconfirmed.

🔻 Traffic at Pishin had reportedly surged from 30–40 trucks per day to 100–130 just days before the disruption.

🔻 Iranian officials themselves acknowledged the crossing still lacked infrastructure and fully settled customs arrangements years after its formal opening.

🔻 Earlier disruptions reportedly left thousands of Iran-bound containers stranded in Karachi and large numbers of trucks backed up along other Pakistan routes.

🔻 Pakistan controls the ports, roads, customs procedures and border gates the Islamic Republic increasingly needs, leaving it with little control over the cost or reliability of its supposed alternative corridor.

The Islamic Republic spent years selling “Look East” as strategic independence.

Instead, growing isolation is turning Iran into a price-taker as other countries control the routes, dictate the terms and profit from its shrinking alternatives.