Pakistanis at Taftan border describe scramble to leave Iran
Pakistanis walk across the Taftan border as they return from Iran, in Balochistan province on March 3, 2026 amid ongoing US-Israel strikes on Iran. PHOTO: AFP
Pakistanis hauled suitcases across the border from Iran, describing missiles being launched and travel chaos as they scrambled to leave the country that the United States and Israel hit with strikes over the weekend.
AFP journalists saw a steady trickle of people passing through large metal gates at the remote border crossing between Iran's Mirjaveh and Taftan in Balochistan.
Powerful explosions have rocked Iran's capital Tehran since Saturday, with embassies from countries around the world telling their citizens to leave.
"All our Pakistani brothers who were in Tehran and other cities had started to leave and were arriving at the terminal, which caused a lot of crowd pressure," 38-year-old trader Ameer Muhammad told AFP on Monday.
"Due to the crowds, there were major transport problems."
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Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in a news conference on Tuesday that Pakistan has three consulates working in Iran to offer support to the 35,000 citizens in the country.
Almost 800 had returned to Pakistan in recent days, he told journalists in Islamabad.
'Many missiles'
The isolated Taftan border lies around 500 kilometres from Quetta.
AFP journalists saw the Iranian flag flying at half-mast as soldiers stood guard.
Most people wheeled bulky luggage over the frontier's foot crossing, while freight lorries formed a long line.
Pakistanis walk across the Taftan border as they return from Iran, in Balochistan province on March 3, 2026 amid ongoing US-Israel strikes on Iran. PHOTO: AFP
Irshad Ahmed, a 49-year-old traveller, told he was staying at a hostel in Tehran when he saw missiles being fired nearby.
"There was an army base near the hostel, and we saw many missiles being fired," he said.
"After that, we went to the Pakistani embassy so that they could evacuate us from there. They brought us here safely."
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the assisantion of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli operation was a "violation" of international law.
"It is an age old convention that the heads of state/government should not be targeted," he wrote on X.
The Government and the people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow and extend the most sincere condolences on the martyrdom of His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Ali
Khamenei.
Pakistan also expresses concern over violation of the norms of…The "people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow and extend the most sincere condolences on the martyrdom" of Khamenei, he added.
A teacher at Tehran's Pakistani embassy, who gave his name as Saqib, told AFP: "Before we left, the situation was normal. The situation was not that bad."
The 38-year-old said the strikes on Tehran on Saturday "pushed us to leave the city".
"The situation became bad on Saturday night, when attacks caused precious lives to be lost," he said.