ChabaharCentre silent on Trump order cancelling Chabahar port waiver Today World News

The U.S. order, titled the ‘National Security Presidential Memorandum’, specifically named the Chabahar port as it called for “maximum economic pressure” on the Iranian government. File
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A day after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order that could impose sanctions on India for its investment in Iran’s Chabahar port, the Union government remained silent regarding the order and its implications.

The U.S. order, titled the ‘National Security Presidential Memorandum’, specifically named the port as it called for “maximum economic pressure” on the Iranian government, directing U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off Iran’s recourse to all funds, including through oil exports, ports, and ancillary businesses. 

Mr. Trump also told reporters that he has left directions that, in case of his assassination, Iran should be “totally obliterated” if it is found responsible.

Changing sanction waivers

“The Secretary of State shall modify or rescind sanctions waivers, particularly those that provide Iran any degree of economic or financial relief, including those related to Iran’s Chabahar port project,” says the order. India has developed the Shahid Beheshti Terminal at the Chabahar port under a 2016 trilateral agreement with Iran and Afghanistan.

“The Treasury Secretary will also issue guidance for all relevant business sectors – including shipping, insurance, and port operators – about the risks to any person that knowingly violates U.S. sanctions with respect to Iran or an Iranian terror proxy,” added a fact-sheet on the order, also issued by the White House.

New lobbying effort

The Ministry of External Affairs declined to respond to requests for a comment on the U.S.’s latest threat, that came even as the U.S. deported a military plane-load of illegal Indian immigrants back to India. The Chabahar issue is expected to be discussed when Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to Washington to meet with Mr. Trump, likely next week, between February 12 and 14. Officials said that the Trump order required a full study by New Delhi, as well as discussions on how best to lobby with the new U.S. administration for another waiver. 

During his previous tenure, Mr. Trump had walked out of the Iran nuclear deal (officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA) and imposed a number of sanctions on Iran, but granted India a waiver from sanctions over the development of Chabahar in “support of Afghanistan’s economic growth and development, as well as (the U.S.’s) close partnership with India”.

Also read | India and Iran drop foreign arbitration clause in Chabahar port issue

India also acceded to Mr. Trump’s demand that it “zero out” all oil exports from Iran, causing a considerable loss to Indian refineries, as Iranian oil was cheaper, and considerably “sweeter” or easier to process. That move, however, helped New Delhi obtain relief on the sanctions over Chabahar, which have now been called into question by the latest Trump order. 

Chabahar expansion

The waiver was meant to facilitate the movement of food aid and goods for trade from India through the Iranian port and over land to Afghanistan’s eastern border during the tenure of Kabul’s elected government, then headed by President Ashraf Ghani. After the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, the Biden administration continued the waiver to let India build infrastructure at Chabahar, as a way of ensuring that grains and other humanitarian aid material could reach Afghans and even Iranians. 

However, in May 2024, after Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal signed a 10-year term contract for the development of the Chabahar terminal and indicated that India would connect it to the International North-South Trade Corridor, and use it for trade with Russia and Central Asia, the U.S. issued a stiff warning, reminding India that the waiver had a limited purpose.

Last month, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri also discussed the use of Chabahar port with the Taliban Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi when they met in Dubai, part of a new push by New Delhi to strengthen ties with the regime in Afghanistan.