The Trump administration’s recent move to sanction dozens of Iranian entities has raised concerns in India, specifically over the future of the Chabahar port project. These apprehensions are justified given the strategic significance of the southern Iranian port, which will enable India to bypass Pakistan and gain direct access to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe.

This proposal has taken over a decade to materialise and any move by the new US government to discourage economic engagement with Iran would throw a spanner in the works.

Therefore, it would be in New Delhi’s best interests to safeguard its proposed investments in Chabahar and convey to Washington that Iran’s most important strategic and economic partners – including Russia, China, Japan and South Korea – would not like to see the Iranian nuclear deal unravel.

… Sumitha Narayanan Kutty is an associate research fellow with the South Asia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.