Relieved Pakistanis recall 'horrifying nights' in Iran
Pakistanis carrying their belongings walk across the Pakistan-Iran border after in Taftan. Photo: AFP
Mohammad Hassan anxiously returned to Pakistan from neighbouring Iran this week after witnessing drones, missiles, and explosions tear through Tehran's sky during what he called long, "horrifying nights".
The 35-year-old University of Tehran student is one of about 3,000 Pakistanis who, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have returned home since Israel launched its aerial war against its long-time enemy last week.
Governments around the world are scrambling to evacuate their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling conflict as Israel and Iran trade missile and drone strikes.
"I was in the city centre where most of the strikes took place and even one of the student dormitories was attacked and luckily no one was dead, but students were injured," Hassan said.
There are more than 500 Pakistani students at his university alone, he said, all of them on their way "back home".
"Those days and nights were very horrifying... hearing sirens, the wailing, the danger of being hit by missiles. As one peeped out the window in the night, you could see drones, missiles with fire tails," he told AFP.
Mohammad Khalil, a 41-year-old petroleum engineer, left Tehran three days ago, the capital of the Islamic Republic looking like a ghost town as residents sheltered indoors and families fled.
"In the last two days, I saw people moving out of the city in different vehicles with necessary commodities," Khalil said.
Abdul Ghani Khan sells medical equipment in Peshawar and travels to Iran regularly for supplies.
He had been in Tehran for a week when the first Israeli missiles fell on Friday.
Khan had to make the journey home by road because the airspace is now closed. Pakistan has also shut its border crossings with Iran to all except Pakistanis wanting to return home.
"We saw drones, red lights of anti-aircraft guns and I spotted one building catch fire," Khan said.
Mohammad Asif, a lawyer from Lahore in Pakistan's east, heard about the air strikes while on a pilgrimage in Qom. He wasn't initially afraid and continued his pilgrimage to Mashhad.
That was until Israeli strikes hit the airport in Mashhad, nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the Pakistani border.
Samreen Ali was also in Mashhad but, like Asif, cut her trip short and returned with her husband and 15-year-old son. She was praying in a mosque in Mashhad when Israel struck the city.
Ali said she had visited Iran nine times before on pilgrimages and never imagined witnessing war there. "I was offering prayer when I heard two explosions," she told AFP.
She then noticed she wasn't receiving messages on her phone and assumed that "communication was being restricted... because of the war".
Syed Saqib, 46, was in Qom and had to travel 500 kilometres (310 miles) by bus southeast to Yazd. "We had to take alternative routes, spend an entire night waiting at a bus terminal," Saqib said.
They then boarded buses to Zahedan, a city near the border with Pakistan's Balochistan province. A relieved Saqib recalled making the border crossing at Taftan, surrounded by families carrying heavy luggage.
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Iran could retaliate through its extensive network of regional allies: Hezbollah in Lebanon, armed groups in Syria and Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen. In response, Israel may strike across multiple fronts. The Gulf, already skittish, could be drawn into this widening circle of conflict. This would be a pan-regional war, not a bilateral spat – and global markets would respond accordingly. For Pakistani businesses and policymakers, this isn't just an oil story – it's about the collapse of confidence. Equity markets across the region would take a hit, FDI flows into emerging economies would pause, and the risk premium for countries like Pakistan – already contending with political instability and IMF obligations – would rise further. That means higher borrowing costs, capital flight, and declining investor appetite for anything deemed 'exposed to the region.' Trade corridors under threat Even beyond the Strait, Iran serves as a critical trade conduit to Central Asia and Turkey. With road and rail links passing through its territory, Pakistan has in recent years viewed Iran as a potential bridge to diversify trade routes. If Iran becomes a war zone or faces renewed and expanded US sanctions, these overland corridors could shut down indefinitely. The Pakistan-Iran-Turkey freight corridor, a pillar of Pakistan's regional trade ambitions, would collapse. And as regional tensions rise, other initiatives – such as Iran's role in China's Belt and Road – could also stall, indirectly affecting Pakistan's own CPEC trajectory. The perils of regime change Some voices in Western capitals quietly suggest that an Iran–Israel war could trigger regime change in Tehran. But regime change rarely brings instant democracy or economic liberalism. More often, it brings chaos, uncertainty, and power vacuums. In Iran's case, a collapsed regime could unleash internal civil strife, embolden separatist movements, and leave critical oil and gas infrastructure vulnerable. 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