ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's Ministry of Commerce on April 25 issued the Transit of Goods through Territory of Pakistan Order 2026, opening six overland routes for goods destined for Iran with immediate effect. The order allows goods originating from third countries, with the exception of those of Indian origin, to be transported through Pakistan and delivered to Iran by road.

The six designated overland routes link Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar with the Iranian border crossings at Gabd and Taftan via Turbat, Panjgur, Khuzdar, Quetta and Dalbandin. The Gwadar-Gabd corridor reduces travel time to the Iranian border to between two and three hours, compared with 16 to 18 hours from Karachi, and according to officials could cut transport costs by 45 to 55 percent.

"A significant step toward promoting regional trade and enhancing Pakistan's role as a key trade corridor," said Jam Kamal Khan, Federal Minister for Commerce. A May 2025 Commerce Ministry order continues to ban the transit of goods from India through Pakistan by any mode.

The new routes were announced as more than 3,000 containers destined for Iran have been stuck at Karachi port for several days, with vessels unable to collect the cargo. The United States has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and war-risk insurance premiums have increased from about 0.12 percent of a vessel's value before the conflict to roughly 5 percent, making shipping to the region too expensive for many operators.

On February 28, US and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran, and in the weeks that followed Iran restricted commercial navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. Pakistan brokered a ceasefire on April 8 and hosted the first round of direct US-Iran talks on April 11 in Islamabad, which lasted nearly a day and ended without a deal. A second round has stalled, and Iran has ruled out direct negotiations with Washington while the blockade remains in place.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Islamabad for talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir, telling Pakistani officials that Tehran would continue engaging with Islamabad's mediation efforts until a result is achieved. Iran has not publicly commented on the transit order.

The corridor allows Pakistan to bypass Afghanistan entirely for westbound trade. Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in border clashes in October 2025 and again in February and March 2026, and the Torkham and Chaman crossings have ceased to function as reliable commercial routes.

"This is a paradigmatic shift. Pakistan's relations with the Afghan Taliban, the de facto rulers in Kabul, have no reset switch," said Iftikhar Firdous, cofounder of The Khorasan Diary. "This corridor also reduces Pakistan's reliance on longer maritime routes through the Gulf. Geopolitics, security, and infrastructure will ultimately determine which corridors dominate, but it places Pakistan as the main overland gateway for China-backed trade routes into West Asia and beyond," he said. "The impact on Kabul's transit relevance and revenue is strategic, not immediate – but it is real," Firdous added.

Skirmishes continue along the northwestern and southwestern borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan. "A cornered Afghanistan is a destabilised Afghanistan, and Pakistan knows better than most what that costs," wrote Minhas Majeed Marwat, a Peshawar-based academic and geopolitical analyst. "The opportunity here is real. So is the risk. Security on the northwestern and southwestern borders remains the variable that could unravel everything," she wrote.