American siege weighs on Iran: huge truck queues at the border

The American naval siege on Iran is forcing Tehran to divert trade to land routes, creating huge queues of trucks at the border with Turkey. At the Gurbulak crossing, the number of trucks has jumped from about 200 to about 1,200, and drivers report waiting times of days. A 55-year-old Iranian driver said he waited four days for a rubber shipment. An Iranian official acknowledged the unusual congestion and noted that the infrastructure cannot handle it. Iran's president accused the US of trying to exert maximum economic pressure.

The American naval siege on Iran is forcing Tehran to divert a large portion of its trade to land routes, creating huge queues of trucks at the border with Turkey. At the Gurbulak crossing, the largest border crossing between the two countries, the number of waiting trucks has jumped from about 200 in routine times to about 1,200. The queues stretch for kilometers, and waiting times have lengthened significantly since the outbreak of the war. A 55-year-old Iranian driver said he waited four days to bring a rubber shipment into Iran, and that the queue he was in stretched for about seven kilometers. The unusual congestion comes as Iran tries to adapt to the American siege on its ports, which sharply reduces its ability to import goods and export oil and gas. Amir Roshanbakhsh Ganbari, a senior official in an Iranian government body for trade promotion, said the number of trucks has surged and that neighboring countries lack the infrastructure to handle such a volume. Additional drivers reported a decrease in the number of trips and waiting times of up to 25 days on the Iranian side. Iran and Turkey are trying to increase the capacity of the crossings, and at the border with Pakistan, they plan to operate crossings 24 hours a day. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US of trying to exert maximum economic pressure, but claimed the pressure would not change their position in negotiations.