Pakistan’s Balancing Act on Iran

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS — PETAL 001
🗓 Date Posted: June 22, 2025
Thematic Focus: IR / Neighbourhood / West Asia / Strategic Affairs

🌾 Opening Whisper

“Between borders and beliefs, Pakistan walks a tightrope, hoping not to fall into the fires it fans.”

🔹 Key Highlights

• Rhetorical Support to Iran: Amid the Iran-Israel crisis, Pakistan has vocally backed Iran, portraying solidarity without providing military aid.
• Border Volatility: Iran and Pakistan share a turbulent 900-km border across the Baloch belt; both accuse each other of harbouring separatists.
• Shia-Sunni Divide: Pakistan’s Sunni-majority stance and Saudi proximity remain friction points with Iran’s Shia ideology.
• Geopolitical Divergence: Iran’s alignment with anti-US blocs contrasts with Pakistan’s historic US ties, though recent years have seen waning American interest in Islamabad.
• India’s Interests: Iran is vital for India’s strategic projects (Chabahar Port, INSTC); Pakistan’s posturing may aim to erode India-Iran goodwill.

📘 Concept Explainer

Iran–Pakistan: Strategic Neighbours, Mistrustful Allies
While both are Muslim-majority nations with shared culture, geography, and religious diversity, realpolitik has bred tension. The Iranian Revolution, Afghanistan dynamics, and sectarian politics pushed the two apart. The current Iran–Israel conflict gives Pakistan a rare stage to stay diplomatically relevant — to Iran, to the Arab world, and to the West.

📚 GS Paper Mapping

• GS Paper 2:
  • Bilateral Relations: India–Iran, Iran–Pakistan
  • Role of External State & Non-State Actors
  • Effect of Global/Regional Groupings
• GS Paper 3 (Optional – Internal Security):
  • Cross-Border Insurgency (Balochistan context)

🌠 A Thought Spark — by IAS Monk

“When nations dance with all sides at once, the music may charm the crowd — but the floor often collapses beneath.”

High Quality Mains Essay For Practice :

Word Limit 1000-1200

Trapped in the Triangle: Iran, Pakistan, and India in the Shadow of American Highhandedness

Introduction

The volatile geopolitics of West Asia has once again thrust Iran into global headlines. But this time, it is Pakistan’s cautious positioning that has drawn attention. With the Iran–Israel crisis intensifying and the US deepening its rhetoric, Pakistan’s strategic calculations are being watched with curiosity. Simultaneously, India too faces a complex chessboard: Iran remains a key partner in its connectivity and energy strategy, yet navigating this relationship amidst sanctions, global tensions, and regional rivalries requires deft diplomacy.

This essay explores the delicate balance that Pakistan, India, and Iran must maintain in the wake of American dominance, deepening fault lines in West Asia, and the urgent need for recalibrated diplomacy.

Pakistan’s Dilemma: Balancing Sectarian Solidarity and Strategic Survival

Pakistan’s support to Iran has largely remained rhetorical, often devoid of substantive alignment due to the deep sectarian divides and regional rivalries it navigates.

• Border Tensions: Pakistan shares a 900-km border with Iran through the volatile Baloch belt. The Baloch insurgency, which spills across borders, has fueled suspicions on both sides. Iran accuses Pakistan of harbouring anti-Iranian separatists, while Pakistan blames Iran for sheltering Baloch militants targeting its military installations.
• Afghanistan as a Flashpoint: While Iran backed the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, Pakistan staunchly supported the Taliban regime. This divergence still reflects in their Afghanistan policy, shaping mutual distrust.
• Sectarian Suspicion: Iran, a Shia theocracy, finds it difficult to trust Pakistan, whose Saudi-backed Sunni ideology has funded madrasas that have bred anti-Shia sentiment. Iran sees Pakistan as an extended arm of a Saudi-led Sunni axis.
• US Angle: While Iran views the US as an enemy, Pakistan has long benefited from US military and economic support. But with the US retreat from Afghanistan and strategic pivot towards the Indo-Pacific, Pakistan finds itself strategically orphaned. In the ongoing Iran–Israel conflict, Pakistan seeks relevance by posturing as a neutral mediator — reassuring the US it won’t militarily aid Iran, while rhetorically backing Iran’s sovereignty.

In essence, Pakistan’s Iran policy is a mirror of its own geopolitical anxiety: How to remain visible on the world stage without alienating any side too deeply.

India’s Dilemma: Between Strategic Connectivity and Western Sanctions

For India, Iran has historically been a civilisational partner and a crucial enabler of its energy security and connectivity dreams. However, India’s room to maneuver has shrunk due to American sanctions and regional turbulence.

• Chabahar Port and INSTC: India has invested heavily in Chabahar Port, Iran’s strategic outlet to the Indian Ocean. Through the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), India hoped to bypass Pakistan and gain access to Central Asia and Russia.
• Sanctions Roadblock: Despite Iran’s willingness to partner, India has had to slow down its investments, especially after the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and re-imposed economic sanctions. Indian refiners were compelled to halt oil imports from Iran, disrupting what was once a major source of cheap crude.
• China’s Entry: As India’s engagement shrank, China moved in, offering massive infrastructure and energy deals to Iran. This indirectly undermines India’s strategic footprint in the region.
• Diplomatic Tightrope: India must now manage multiple tensions — its growing alignment with the US and Israel, its silent distancing from Iran’s theocratic politics, and the risk of losing ground to China in West Asia. Moreover, Pakistan’s attempts to wean Iran away from India using symbolic solidarity adds a layer of competitive geopolitics.

India’s dilemma is profound: how to safeguard its long-term interests in Iran without antagonizing its Western allies.

Iran’s Dilemma: Defying the US Without Alienating the World

For Iran, caught between domestic protests, economic strangulation, and geopolitical isolation, managing relations with both India and Pakistan while confronting US and Israeli hostility is a high-wire act.

• Strategic Patience and Resilience: Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has built its identity around resistance to American imperialism and support for Shia causes across the region. This makes it difficult to make overt diplomatic overtures to the US, despite internal desire for sanctions relief.
• The Balancing of Ties: While Iran values India for its technological and infrastructural investments, it cannot ignore Pakistan due to geographical proximity and shared cultural linkages. However, it remains wary of Pakistan’s Saudi ties and Taliban sympathies.
• Economic Desperation: With crippling inflation and mounting internal dissent, Iran is seeking new avenues of investment — from China, Russia, and the Global South. India, if it can overcome sanctions-related hesitation, remains an attractive partner. Yet, Iran cannot appear to be tilting too far toward any side, lest it risks diplomatic isolation or domestic backlash.
• Mediator or Isolated Actor?: Iran sees itself as a regional power, not merely a reactionary state. However, its alignment with groups like Hezbollah and proxy dynamics in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen have limited its acceptability in global platforms. As it seeks to resist Israel, Iran also fears isolation from even friendly countries like India.

American Highhandedness: The Elephant in the Room

At the center of this triangular dilemma lies the unilateral, unpredictable and punitive posture of the United States. Whether it is:

• Sanctioning Iran repeatedly,
• Pressuring India to stop Iranian oil imports,
• Abandoning Pakistan post-Afghanistan,

…the US has exercised an exclusionary policy, forcing regional players into self-preserving but divergent paths.

• For India, US sanctions complicate strategic autonomy.
• For Iran, US dominance is an existential challenge.
• For Pakistan, the US retreat creates a vacuum it is scrambling to fill.

Ironically, US actions have indirectly pushed India and Iran closer in vision (connectivity), Pakistan and China closer in desperation, and Iran into the arms of Russia and China, shifting the balance of global power.

The Way Forward: Strategic Maturity and Diplomatic Independence

In this multipolar moment, strategic ambiguity may be wiser than rigid alliances. Each actor — India, Iran, and Pakistan — must recalibrate its policy with resilience and clarity:

• India must assert strategic autonomy to re-engage Iran meaningfully while retaining Western goodwill.
• Iran must prioritise pragmatic diplomacy over ideological posturing to rebuild its economy and alliances.
• Pakistan must stop over-relying on rhetoric and instead invest in real diplomatic capital with all stakeholders.

Meanwhile, the US must realize that coercion cannot build long-term influence in West Asia. Only respect for regional autonomy can sustain partnerships.

Conclusion

The Iran–Pakistan–India triangle is a delicate geopolitical balancing act, shaped by history, ambition, and the burden of global power politics. Each actor is a prisoner of its own dilemmas — bound by alliances, haunted by the past, and uncertain of the future. As West Asia simmers and the global order shifts, what unites them is the desire to escape the gravitational pull of American dominance — even if they each do so in different ways.

🌠 Closing Whisper — by IAS Monk

“Three neighbours, one storm, and no umbrella — just prayers, postures, and unfinished promises.”

Target IAS-26: Daily MCQs :

📌 Prelims Practice MCQs

Topic: Iran-India-Pak International Relations