ABSTRACT
The existing literature on the history of Iran's relations with Pakistan includes plenty of commonplace platitudes. The most commonly cited episode is that Iran was the first country in the world to recognize the independence of Muslim-majority Pakistan in May 1949. Pakistan's founding father, Quaid-e Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was himself instrumental in raising Iran's exceptionalism for Pakistan. Today it is commonplace to hear that the fall of the Shah in 1979 was the turning point in Iranian-Pakistani relations. Tehran and Islamabad thought this shortcoming would be addressed with the establishment of the so-called Baghdad Pact in 1955, which they equally enthusiastically welcomed. It would later be renamed the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), with Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, and UK as members and the US as an observer member. The estimated 40 million Pakistani Shia population constitutes a key target audience for Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's political messaging.
