Pakistan and Iran had traditionally enjoyed cordial relations. When Pakistan was formed, Iran was the first country to recognize it. Iran (under Reza Shah Pahlavi) and Pakistan both were part of the western capitalist camp during the tight bipolarity of the cold war. Both were part of CENTO (originally known as Baghdad Pact) military alliance formed to contain Soviet influence. Iran even went over the board in terms of providing critical support to Pakistan during 1965 and 1971 wars. Iran also provided material support for Pakistan’s counter insurgency operations against Baluch separatists in 1970’s by sending in cobra gunships to assist Pakistan’s COIN operations. However, Pakistan-Iran relations changed rapidly in the aftermath of 1979 Iranian revolution which brought Khomeini into power and changed Iran’s outlook like never before.
In order to clearly understand the complex dynamics of Pak-Iran bi-lateral relations, we would go over different aspects of this relationship in the context of:
- CPEC and India’s Chabahar gambit
- Involvement of foreign funded proxies and subversive elements
- Afghan conundrum and the rise of ISIS-Khorasan
- Pakistan’s delicate diplomatic balancing between Saudi Arabia and Iran
- CPEC and India’s Chabahar Gambit
