The United States is struggling to close Iran's remaining land trade routes after three of Tehran's neighbours refused to shut their border crossings, The New York Times has reported.

According to the newspaper, US officials have spent weeks urging Türkiye, Iraq and Pakistan to close their crossings with Iran as part of a campaign to tighten the economic blockade of Tehran. All three countries rejected the request, warning that cutting trade would cause economic losses and public unrest.

Türkiye has not changed its border policy, the report said, while Iraq — which depends on Iranian gas — rejected a US demand to close almost all of its crossings. A US official familiar with the discussions said several neighbouring governments had directly warned Washington of the risk of social upheaval if trade were halted.

A twenty-person task force

President Donald Trump announced last week the formation of Task Force Iron Gate, a unit of about 20 civilian and military personnel based in Florida, to stop advanced weapons, dual-use technology, sanctioned materials and illicit revenue moving across Iran's land borders and the Caspian Sea. A US military official said the task force would not conduct military operations.

Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, described the plan to monitor Iran's land trade as provocative and warned it could spread the crisis around Iran into neighbouring countries.

Baghdad's balancing act

Iraq's foreign minister, Fuad Hussein, has said the US Treasury asked Baghdad to keep only two of its crossings with Iran open. He warned that closing the rest would be difficult and would damage Iraq's economy, pointing to annual trade with Iran worth between $15 billion and $18 billion, including about $4 billion in gas purchases.

The pressure is already visible on the ground. Iraq reopened the al-Sheeb crossing with Iran on 10 November after a closure of about three weeks, while the Mandali crossing is due to close temporarily from 13 November for maintenance. Iraq's Badr parliamentary bloc has rejected the reported US request and called for closed crossings to be reopened.

The refusals leave a significant gap in Washington's blockade strategy, which has already closed Iran's ports to most shipping and squeezed its air links. Land routes through Türkiye, Iraq and Pakistan remain open, and traders have shifted cargo to them as the sea and air routes have narrowed.