Hormuz Blockade: Iran's Overland Trade Detour Stalls as Thousands of Trucks Pile Up at Its Borders

Iran's plan to escape the US naval blockade of its ports by moving more trade onto roads and rail is running into serious trouble. By mid-September 2026, thousands of Iranian trucks were stuck at land crossings with Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, perishable cargo was spoiling in the queues, and the extra transport costs were feeding straight into prices in Tehran.

After peace talks in Islamabad failed, the US Navy imposed a blockade on ships sailing to and from Iranian ports on April 13, starting at 14:00 UTC. The measure hit Iran's import system hard, since around 70 percent of the country's imports normally arrive through the ports now cut off. More than 3,000 Iran-bound containers quickly became stranded at Karachi and Port Qasim in Pakistan, with no vessels able to collect them.

Tehran's answer was to push more cargo overland. On April 25, Pakistan activated six transit routes linking the ports of Gwadar, Karachi and Port Qasim to the Iranian border through the Gabd and Taftan crossings. The Gwadar to Gabd corridor was presented as the fastest option, with a drive of only two to three hours to the border compared with 16 to 18 hours from Karachi. The routes were mainly intended for food staples such as rice, meat and baby formula. At the same time, Iran leaned on the Kapikoy-Razi corridor toward Turkey, Caspian Sea shipping from Russia and rail links toward China.

The blockade was briefly lifted on June 18, when US Central Command halted enforcement under a memorandum of understanding signed during negotiations. The truce did not hold. Fighting resumed on July 8, and the US reinstated the blockade on July 14. In a statement on September 12, US Central Command said its forces had redirected 100 commercial vessels over the 60 days since enforcement resumed, and that no ship had passed without US approval. Hormuz traffic remains extremely thin, with only seven vessels recorded crossing the strait on September 10, against a prewar average of around 125 per day.

Iran and Pakistan tried to scale up the land corridor over the summer. In July, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said both countries aimed to lift bilateral trade from about $3 billion to at least $10 billion a year. He added that the border would need to handle at least 2,000 trucks a day, while actual volumes stood at only about 20 percent of that target. The plan includes a new crossing in the Kuhak area, cold storage facilities on both sides of the border and permission for Iranian and Pakistani trucks to operate on each other's roads.

On the ground, the corridors have hit a wall. According to a Wall Street Journal report published on September 16, hundreds of Iranian truck drivers are stuck at the Pakistan border, and similar backlogs are building at crossings with Turkey, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Figures from Iran's International Transport Association show about 3,700 trucks waiting on the Iranian side of the border with Turkey, where Bazargan is the main road gateway, and some drivers report waits of up to 20 days.

The situation on the Pakistan side is equally tense. Local civic groups say around 700 trucks loaded with bottled gas and cement are queuing at a major checkpoint, while only about 40 are allowed to cross. Drivers report that tons of dried apricots have rotted during the delays, and that shipments of iron ore, cement and liquefied gas are held up at entry points into Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a video shared by an Iranian truck drivers' union, one driver complained that Tehran was taking no responsibility for the stranded crews while Pakistani authorities were refusing to let them unload.

Ehsan Malekzadeh, who heads Iran's International Transport Association, said customs staff at the country's land borders are struggling to cope with the surge in cargo. Many drivers also blame their own government for part of the gridlock, pointing to paperwork, fees and poor coordination between agencies.

Fresh security incidents have added to the strain. After a drone attack on Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline, which Baghdad confirmed was launched from Iraq's Maysan province near the Iranian border, Iraq closed the Shalamcheh, al-Shib and Mandali crossings with Iran on September 12. Trucks carrying onions toward Iraq had to turn back on September 13. Iraqi authorities have since announced a gradual reopening running through September 17, with passenger traffic restored before commercial cargo. Saudi Arabia shut the pipeline on September 11 as a precaution, which also removed one of the main routes Riyadh had been using to export oil while avoiding Hormuz.

The cost of the detours is climbing fast. Majidreza Hariri, head of the Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce, said moving a single container from China to Iran now costs about $12,000 by land, compared with around $3,000 by sea. He estimated that the blockade could add roughly $18 billion a year to Iran's logistics bill. The Wall Street Journal reported that in some cases, border bottlenecks and diversions now make up as much as a third of the final price of everyday goods sold in Tehran. These costs are adding to inflation, and Iranian authorities reported that food inflation reached 128 percent in August.

The alternative routes are also limited by capacity. Iranian officials say cargo traffic across the Caspian Sea has risen by about 70 percent over the past five months, with large volumes of wheat, corn and cooking oil arriving from Russia. However, Caspian ports and fleets can only handle so much, and rail links toward China face similar infrastructure gaps. Transport professionals in Tehran say thousands of Iran-bound containers are still sitting in ports in Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Air freight is shrinking as well, as sanctioned carrier Mahan Air announced on September 16 that it was suspending flights to Oman and Turkey, a week after the US Treasury sanctioned companies accused of supporting the airline.

Economists warn that overland trade cannot fully replace a port-based container economy. Trucks carry far less cargo per trip, customs capacity is finite, and neighboring countries can close their gates at short notice for security reasons. As long as the blockade stays in place and talks between Washington and Tehran remain stalled, Iranian importers and exporters are likely to keep facing long border queues, spoiled goods and rising freight bills, while consumers absorb the higher prices.