Iran and Pakistan established relations on 14 August 1947, the day of the independence of Pakistan, when Iran became the first country to recognize Pakistan. Both countries generally maintain a cordial relationship with formed alliances in a number of areas of mutual interest, such as combating the drug trade along their border and the cross-border insurgency in Balochistan.
During the Cold War (1945–1991), both countries were part of the Western Bloc against the Eastern Bloc. They were founding members of the anti-communist alliance CENTO. Iran aided Pakistan in the India–Pakistan war of 1965 and India–Pakistan war of 1971, and backed Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Both countries shared a common animosity towards Baloch separatists and cooperated in the 1970s Balochistan operation. Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty, Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the Islamic Republic of Iran, and worked together during the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) when Iran backed the Pakistan-funded Afghan mujahideen, and Pakistan supported Iran in the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988); however, following the next phase of the Afghan civil war, relations between the two became tense after Iran and Pakistan backed opposing sides, respectively the Northern Alliance and the Taliban. Following the September 11 attacks, Iran and Pakistan joined the war on terror but failed to align due to conflicted interests.
Pakistan has also provided support to Iran in the Iran–Israel proxy conflict and served as a mediator in the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict. After the U.S. complete withdrawal of its troops and the Taliban return to power in the 2020s, Pakistan stepped up cooperation with Iran to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan. Iran has also expressed an interest in joining the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor as part of the larger Belt and Road Initiative.
On the other hand, Pakistan is one of the few countries where Iranian influence is positively received as per polls conducted by the Pew Research Center. Polls have consistently shown that a very high proportion of Pakistanis view their western neighbour positively. Former Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei had also called for the sympathy, assistance, and inter-cooperation of all Muslim nations, including Pakistan.
History Antiquity
The regions that comprise today's Iran and Pakistan have been under the rule of contiguous Eurasian polities at various points in history, as Pakistan straddles an intermediary zone between the Iranian Plateau and Indian subcontinent. The Persian Achaemenid Empire, which spanned (among other regions) the area between the Balkans and the area of the Indus River (known to the Persians as HindGilani, Maqbool Hassan. "Historical background of Saraiki language." Pakistan journal of social sciences 33.1 (2013): 61-76.Pahoja, Murlidhar H. "Antiquity and Origin of the Term'Hindu'.") at its height, conquered the regions comprising modern-day Pakistani provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the reign of Darius I.
Relations before 1971
Imperial Iran maintained close relations with Pakistan during the Cold War, partly owing to their mutual alliance with the United States-led Western Bloc. Iran was the first country to recognize Pakistan as an independent state, and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the first head of any state to make an official state visit to Pakistan (in March 1950). Since 1947, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, had successfully advocated a policy of fostering cordial relations with the Muslim world and Iran in particular. After Pakistan gained its independence in August 1947, Iran was one of the first countries to recognize its sovereign status.
In May 1950, a treaty of friendship was signed by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Some of the clauses of the treaty of friendship had wider geopolitical significance. Pakistan found a natural partner in Iran after the Indian government chose to support Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was seeking to export a pan-Arab ideology that threatened many of the more traditional Arab monarchies, a number of which were allied with the Shah of Iran. Harsh V. Pant, a foreign policy writer, noted that Iran was a natural ally and model for Pakistan for other reasons as well. Both countries granted each other MFN status for trade purposes; the Shah offered Iranian oil and gas to Pakistan on generous terms, and the Iranian and Pakistani militaries extensively cooperated to suppress the rebel movement in Baluchistan. During the Shah's era, Iran moved closer to Pakistan in many fields. Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey joined the United States-sponsored Central Treaty Organization, which extended a defensive alliance along with the Soviet Union's southern perimeter. Iran played an important role in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, providing Pakistan with nurses, medical supplies, and a gift of 5,000 tons of petroleum. Iran also indicated that it was considering an embargo on oil supplies to India for the duration of the armed conflict. The Indian government firmly believed that Iran had blatantly favoured Pakistan and sought to undermine India during the war. After the suspension of American military aid to Pakistan, Iran was reported to have purchased ninety F-86 Sabrejet fighter planes from West Germany, and subsequently delivered them to Pakistan.
Although Pakistan's decision to join the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in 1955 was largely motivated by its security imperatives regarding India, Pakistan did not sign on until Iran was satisfied that the British government was not going to obstruct the nationalization of British oil companies in Iran. According to Dr Mujtaba Razvi, Pakistan likely would not have joined CENTO had Iran been negatively affected during these events.
1970s Iran again played a vital role for Pakistan in the India–Pakistan war of 1971, this time supplying military equipment as well as diplomatic support against India. The Shah described the Indian attack as blatant aggression and interference in Pakistan's domestic/internal affairs; in an interview with a Parisian newspaper he openly acknowledged that "We are one hundred percent behind Pakistan". Iranian Prime Minister Amir-Abbas Hoveida followed suit, saying that "Pakistan has been subjected to violence and force." The Iranian leadership repeatedly expressed its opposition to the dismemberment of Pakistan, fearing it would adversely affect the domestic stability and security of Iran by encouraging Kurdish and Baloch separatists to rise up against the Iranian government. In the same vein, Iran attempted to justify its supplying of arms to Pakistan on the grounds that, in its desperation, Pakistan might fall into the lap of the Chinese (a communist rival to the U.S.-led Western Bloc).
The subsequent breakup of Pakistan in December 1971 convinced Iran that extraordinary effort was needed to protect the stability and territorial integrity of its eastern flank. With the emergence of Bangladesh as a separate state, the "Two-Nation Theory/Pakistan Movement" as well as the state of Pakistan itself had received a severe negative blow to its reputation and questions arose in the Iranian establishment as to whether the residual western part of Pakistan could hold together and remain a single country. Events of this period caused significant perceptional changes in Tehran regarding Pakistan.
When a widespread armed insurgency broke out in Pakistan's Balochistan province in 1973, Iran, fearing the Baloch insurgency might spill over into its own Sistan and Baluchistan Province, offered large-scale support.Foreign Policy Centre, "On the Margins of History", (2008), p.35 Iran provided Pakistan with military hardware (including thirty AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters), intelligence, and $200 million in aid. The government of then-Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto declared its belief that, as in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, India was once again behind the unrest and uprising of rebels in the Balochistan region. However, the Indian government denied any involvement, and claimed that it was fearful of further balkanisation of the subcontinent. After three years of fighting the uprising was majorly suppressed.
In addition to military aid, the Shah of Iran offered considerable developmental aid to Pakistan, including oil and gas on preferential terms. Pakistan was a developing country and small power while Iran, in the 1960-70s, had the world's fifth-largest military, a strong economic/industrial base and was the clear, undisputed regional superpower. However, Iran's total dependence on the United States at that time for its economic development and military build-up had won it hostility from the more Soviet-aligned Arab world. Brief tensions between Iran and Pakistan arose in 1974, when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi refused to attend the Islamic Conference in Lahore because Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been – despite the known hostility between two – invited to it by Pakistan. Later in 1976, Iran again played a vital and influential role by facilitating a rapprochement between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Iran's reaction to India's surprise 1974 nuclear test detonation (codenamed Smiling Buddha) was muted. During a state visit to Iran in 1977, Pakistani PM Bhutto tried to persuade Pahlavi to support Pakistan's own clandestine atomic bomb project. Although the Shah's response is not officially known, there are indications that he refused to oblige Bhutto.
In July 1977, following political agitation by an opposition alliance, Bhutto was forced out of office in a military coup d'état. The new military dictatorship government, under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, was ideologically ultraconservative and religiously oriented in its nature and approach in contrast to the more secular Iran at the time.
Relationship after the Iranian Revolution Bhutto was ousted by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in a military coup. This was followed a half year later by the Iranian Revolution, which established an Islamic republic and overthrew of the Shah of Iran. In 1979, Pakistan was one of the first countries in the world to recognize the new revolutionary regime in Iran. Responding swiftly to this revolutionary change, Foreign Minister of Pakistan Agha Shahi immediately undertook a state visit to Tehran, meeting with his Iranian counterpart Karim Sanjabi on 10 March 1979. Both expressed confidence that Iran and Pakistan were going to march together to a brighter future. Agha Shahi held talks with the Ayatollah, Ruhollah Khomeini, in which developments in the region were discussed.
Iran's supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, withdrew the country from CENTO and ended its association with the United States. Iran and Pakistan had religiously influenced leaders, with Khomeini being a Shia Muslim while Zia being a Sunni Muslim. Despite Shia–Sunni divisions, the common desire for a pan-Islamic identity became an important factor in shaping new Iranian–Pakistani relations. On 11 April 1979, General Zia famously declared that "Khomeini is a symbol of Islamic insurgence". Reciprocating Zia-ul-Haq's sentiments, Khomeini, in a letter, called for Muslim unity. He declared: "Ties with Pakistan are based on Islam." According to the Sahifeh-ye Imam, in May 1988 (15 Shawwal 1408), responding to Zia's greeting card on Eid al-Fitr, Khomeini sent peace and mercy upon Zia.
Iranian influence on Pakistan's Shi'a community