Tehran has called on regional countries to “actively participate” in the overall development and functioning of the Chabahar port project in Iran, per an official statement.
Iranian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy Mahdi Safari, invited as a special guest to the maiden India-Central Asia Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting on Chabahar in Mumbai, told the participants that developing the port was a “priority” for Tehran.
He said that that area around Chabahar was being developed as an industrial, free trade and a tourism zone in a bid to garner investment. Safari also underscored that there were a slew of “incentives” on offer for potential investors in the port’s development and activities.
He further said that the increased usage of the port would help in “activating” the Moscow-backed International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a 7,200-kilometere network of trains, roads and sea routes to connect Russia to India through Iran and Central Asia.
How is India Involved in Chabahar Project?
India committed to develop the Shahid Beheshti terminal of Chabahar port during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tehran in 2016, with the Indian leader earmarking $500 million for the development works.
A trilateral agreement among Iran, India and Afghanistan on ‘Establishment of International Transport and Transit Corridors’ to facilitate movement of goods between India and central Asian states was also signed the same year.
The port’s operations have been managed by New Delhi-backed India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) since 2018.
India has said that the port at the Gulf of Oman would help "unlock the economic potential" of the region.
Despite Chabahar’s strategic location and its proximity to Afghanistan, Indian efforts to develop the terminal suffered a setback due to Washington’s decision to pull itself out of the JCPOA and imposing sanctions on Iran.
While India’s operations in Chabahar were exempted from Donald Trump’s sanctions against Iran, Indian companies were held back by the fear of “secondary sanctions.”
Since Biden came to power, New Delhi has stepped back its operations in Chabahar and fully-backed Moscow’s plans to connect it to the INSTC.
So far, New Delhi has primarily used the port for transporting cargo and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, which has continued since the Taliban* returned to power in 2021. Around 75,000 metric tonnes of India’s humanitarian assistance of wheat was transported to Afghanistan through Chabahar in 2020.
* under UN sanctions for terrorism