RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Deputy Editor, National Security and Foreign Policy
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. With President Donald Trump threatening to launch an "economic D-Day" against Iran , one of the Islamic Republic's most important wartime lifelines is its geography.
And while the resumption of a U.S. naval blockade last month has substantially limited Iran's maritime trade, land routes are becoming an increasingly vital source of commerce.
Located at the crossroads of the West, Central and South Asia, Iran shares land borders with seven nations. Each has its own complex history of ties with Tehran, yet they provide unique corridors for trade less susceptible to interception than sea transit.
These routes may not replace Iran's lucrative maritime trade, but they can help fuel a "resistance economy" fighting to survive the latest U.S. economic onslaught.
"The biggest change since the war is that these routes are no longer just about regional commerce," Umud Shokri, a senior visiting fellow at George Mason University who specializes in energy and trade networks, told Newsweek . "They have become part of Iran’s economic-survival strategy. Tehran is trying to shift more trade toward land borders, railways, northern ports, and the Caspian."
"But there are limits," he added. "Trucks, railways, and smaller northern ports cannot match the scale and efficiency of maritime trade. They can help keep food, consumer goods, and some industrial inputs moving, but they cannot fully replace what Iran has lost through disrupted sea routes."
Iraq is generally considered Iran's most important neighbor for trade. They also share their longest border at nearly 1,000 miles.
Ties between Tehran and Baghdad improved substantially after the fall of longtime Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to a U.S.-led invasion in 2003. However, Iran's influence has proven divisive, especially given its patronage for powerful Shiite Muslim militias that have fought both Sunni Muslim jihadis as well as U.S. troops, all the while consolidating political power.
These groups accelerated their targeting of U.S. and Israeli forces when the ongoing Middle East crisis first erupted with the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023. More recently, they've focused their efforts on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, creating a new front for Iran and its Axis of Resistance to raise the costs of the U.S.-Israeli war launched in February.
Iran-Iraq ties also have a key economic element, with their trade volume exceeding $10 billion last year. For Iran, the relationship provides an outlet to major markets and connectivity to the rest of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, while Iraq relies heavily on its neighbor for natural gas and electricity.
Washington also considers Baghdad to be a partner; however, any concerted U.S. effort to choke off trade with Iran would likely have severe effects for Iraq. That has not stopped the U.S. from pressuring Iraq to do more to combat Iranian influence, including during the most recent election that took place in Iraq last November.
But as the new Iraqi government seeks to keep the nation out of the fray, officials have shown little appetite for backing an embargo.
Iraqi Supreme Judiciary Council Chief Faiq Zaidan was cited as opposing Trump's recently announced "Operation Economic Outcast" as he traveled to Iran on Wednesday to meet with senior Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf.
Turkey is not only a close partner for the U.S. but also a NATO ally whose leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is often praised by Trump. At the same time, it serves as Iran's most crucial corridor for long-distance trade, bridging the Middle East and Europe.
Annual trade is estimated at around $5-6 billion, but Turkey's geographic linkages and distinct geopolitical position elevate the importance of this relationship.
Despite his positive rapport with Trump, Erdogan has repeatedly criticized the U.S. decision to jointly launch the war with Israel against Iran in February. Six months later, he continues to call for an end to the conflict.
Unlike other U.S. allies who have received backlash over their perceived lack of support, Trump doubled down on his admiration for his Turkish counterpart during their latest encounter at the NATO summit hosted last month in July.
But a new White House campaign to target Iran's trading partners could complicate Erdogan's calculus, especially as he seeks to deepen relations with Washington in other sectors, such as an F-35 fighter jet acquisition.
The relationship between Turkey and Iran is also complicated. While the two have cooperated in a number of initiatives, including joint opposition to Kurdish separatist movements, Ankara warned Tehran against targeting Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, with which Turkey and Pakistan recently signed a mutual defense pact.
Even before the decision, however, Islamabad took a frontline role in the diplomatic effort to end the war, mediating U.S.-Iran talks and hosting a quadrilateral meeting including representatives of the U.S., Iran and Qatar.
While trade with Iran is relatively modest at around $2.8 billion, Pakistan offers a crucial overland passageway to the Indian Ocean at a time when U.S. warships threaten to intercept ships transiting to and from Iranian ports via the Persian Gulf. In April, when the U.S. blockade first came into effect, Pakistan opened six routes linking major ports in Karachi and Gwadar to land crossings with Iran in Gabd and Taftan.
The same border region was the site of one of Tehran and Islamabad's most tense episodes in January 2024, when Iran, having weeks earlier suffered the deadliest act of terrorism in its modern history at the hands of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS), conducted st...
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