Washington (TDI): Just one day after the broader UN sanctions on Iran took effect, the United States has come forward with sanctions of Tehran’s Chabahar Port; a port project under development with major Indian investment.
Just last year, Indian state-company, India Ports Global Limited, signed a ten year contract with Iran entailing $370 million in investment on the development of the port, which New Delhi deems strategic and a way to reach Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan.
The sanctions imposed by the US means all Indian companies now have 45 days to exit Chabahar or face the consequences of frozen assets. The sanctions, in general, affect companies’ ability to make global transactions.
India has not come up with a definitive comment yet. The Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal only said, “We are presently examining the implications that this revocation has for India.”
When the first Trump administration sanctioned Iran in 2018, Chabahar Port was exempted from the framework.
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State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott, who announced that sanctions would take place on September 29, also said that 2018 exemption was made “for Afghanistan reconstruction assistance and economic development.”
Fact of the matter is that India and the US are not currently aligned the way they were in 2018. Since the imposition of 50% tariffs, and India’s unbending stance on Russian oil purchases, Trump’s ire has showed up in different ways.
Pigott said the sanctions decision on Indian companies is “consistent with President Trump’s maximum pressure policy to isolate the Iranian regime.”
But it is a double-edged sword. As much as Chabahar Port sanctions are about Iran, they are even more poised to hurt India’s strategic interests in the region.
Via Chabahar, India sought to access Middle East and Afghanistan; replacing Pakistan as a major transit partner for the latter.
The UN one-month snapback mechanism expired on September 28 and the Security Council, with the exception of China and Russia, voted in favor of sanctioning Iran once again.
Established in December 2008, The Diplomatic Insight is Pakistan’s premier diplomacy and foreign affairs magazine, available in both digital and print formats.
