Iran decided to reopen the border after Pakistani and Iranian authorities agreed to step up border security, said an official. — File Photo

QUETTA Iran reopened its border with Pakistan for trade on Monday more than four months after it closed the frontier following a bombing in southeastern Iran that killed 42 people, a Pakistani official said.

A rebel group called Jundollah (Gods soldiers) claimed the suicide bomb attack in Irans Sistan-Balochistan province. Iran suggested the group had links with Pakistani security agents.

Pakistan denied that but Iran closed the border to trade nevertheless.

A senior government officer in Balochistan, which borders Iran, said Iran decided to reopen the border after Pakistani and Iranian authorities agreed last week to step up border security.

“It has been reopened and security has been enhanced on both sides to check illegal cross-border movements and drug smuggling,” provincial interior secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Reuters.

Iran had never closed the border to travellers, he said.—Reuters