CHABAHAR (Kashmir English): India has officially exited the Chabahar Port in Iran, which has geopolitical importance, as a result of the US sanctions that have been reinstated on the port.
New Delhi had already disbursed the amount of $120 million that it had committed to Tehran before the sanctions were imposed; hence, it has conclusively terminated its operational involvement at the port.
With India stepping back, Iranian officials can now use the money to run the port on their own without any Indian partner. This is a turning point for India’s connectivity in the region, since the Chabahar port was looked upon as a door to trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia that would bypass Pakistan.
In the aftermath of the sanctions, the government representatives on the board of India Ports Global Ltd (IPGL)—the public sector company responsible for developing and operating Chabahar port, also resigned.
Furthermore, the official IPGL website has also been disabled, further confirming the news. The occurrences make it clear that the US sanctions have a very strong impact on the regional infrastructure projects involving Iran and have compelled other countries and companies to reconsider their participation.
According to experts, Iran is now likely to turn to other partners or its own resources to keep the Chabahar port running; at the same time, the economic pressure is rising on it.
