Sanctions on Pakistan’s missile programme

Background

The United States had sanctioned Chinese and Pakistani suppliers to Pakistan's missile programme several times, including in 2023 and 2024. Pakistan's strategic forces include the Shaheen series of solid-fuelled ballistic missiles, developed by the state-owned National Development Complex (NDC) in Islamabad.

What happened

On 18 December 2024 the State Department designated the NDC and three Karachi-based companies - Akhtar and Sons Private Limited, Affiliates International and Rockside Enterprise - under Executive Order 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. The US said the NDC had sought items, including special vehicle chassis for missile launchers and test equipment, for Pakistan's long-range ballistic missile programme^1,2.

The following day Jon Finer, the principal deputy national security adviser, said in a speech that Pakistan was developing long-range missile capabilities, including significantly larger rocket motors, that could eventually allow it to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including in the United States, and that it was hard to see this as anything other than an emerging threat^2,3. Pakistan's Foreign Office called the sanctions unfortunate and biased, said they would harm regional peace by creating military asymmetries, and said its strategic programme was intended only to deter India^1,2.

Why it mattered

Finer's remarks were the first time a senior US official had publicly described Pakistan's programme as a potential threat to the American homeland, and they raised concern in Islamabad that Washington was shifting its view of Pakistan's nuclear deterrent. Analysts in Pakistan and elsewhere questioned the technical basis of the claim; others saw it as reflecting US concern about Chinese assistance⁴.

Legacy

The issue remained on the agenda under the second Trump administration. The Congressional Research Service has tracked Pakistan's long-range missile development in a series of updated briefs³.