Having successfully blockaded Iranian ports, preventing the Islamic Republic from exporting any oil or from receiving weapons from suppliers via the sea, now the American government has instituted a land blockade, preventing as best it can the delivery of weapons to Iran via land routes and the Caspian Sea. More on this expanded blockade, intended to choke off all weapons deliveries to Iran, can be found here: “The US wants to cut off Iran’s access to weapons via its land borders, will this work? – analysis,” by Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, November 8, 2026:
US Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced that it is establishing a task force aimed at preventing Iran from using land routes and the Caspian Sea to transport advanced weapons, sanctioned materials, and other equipment….
CENTCOM said it wants to “prevent Iran from using ground routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials.”
Understanding the layout of Iran’s land borders can help clarify what this means and how CENTCOM aims to operate in this case.
Iran’s longest border is with Iraq, 1,599 kilometers long. Next comes its long border with Turkmenistan at 1,148 km., and then Afghanistan at 921 km. Its border with Pakistan is similarly long, at around 900 km. It also has shorter borders with Azerbaijan (611 km.) and Turkey (534 km.). Lastly, it borders Armenia with a 44 km perimeter.
Trying to cut off Iran from these borders appears to be an immense task. The US has already pressured Iraq to cut off Iranian air routes, and there is some pressure to deal with the Iran border crossings as well.
There are numerous Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. How will all of this clandestine trade be stopped?
It’s not clear what Iran may be bringing in from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. The US has good ties with Azerbaijan, and Turkey is a NATO member.
Both Pakistan and Iran have to worry about Baluchi separatists living on both sides of the border who help each other to engage in cross-border attacks. Iran has accused Pakistan is not doing enough to suppress the Baluchis on its side of the border, a source of tension between the two states. Pakistan has good relations with both the Chinese and Americans, so it is unclear whether it will allow the former to use its territory as a conduit for weapons being delivered to Iran. It will depend on whether it values its relations with Washington higher than with Beijing.
The US has now offered a $20 million bounty for anyone supplying useful information on Iran’s nuclear program. Such a gigantic sum may convince Iranians to risk being found out which would, of course, lead to certain execution.
It will be a challenge to monitor the thousands of miles of Iran’s borders with, in order of length, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Armenia. But drones are now available both to monitor those borders, and when weapons smugglers are detected, to immediately fire on them. This may be the final blow to Iran’s ability to strike, as it keeps promising it will, sites all over the region in retaliation for any American attack. Perhaps Trump is waiting for the land boycott to operate for a while — a month? Two? — before attacking the nuclear site at Pickaxe Mountain, and ballistic missile factories across Iran.
commonsense says
Trump has stated that the U.S. is capable of surveiling. with super-high resolution, the entirety of Iran, and that there is no way for them to conceal weapons tranfers, movement of uranium, etc. If this is true – and I think, in essence, that it is – why, then, would we need to seek such information from others? Odd, no?