With the United States pulling out from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the subsequent sanctions that would be imposed by Washington D.C on Tehran would affect the work at Chabahar Port undertaken by India and Iran, says an Indian defense expert.
Speaking to ANI, defense expert, Uday Shankar said, “Chabahar was supposed to enable India to access Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan. When the American sanctions are in place, importing equipment to Iran for a joint project would be a problem.”
“More importantly, India has invested almost half a billion dollars in Chabahar Port creating their infrastructure. It is a relatively nascent stage. Chabahar is a work in progress. But, it has long-term implications. In terms of India, it is having a co-hold in a very crucial maritime part of the region,” he added.
The Chabahar Port is located in southeastern Iran on the Gulf of Oman. It serves as Iran’s only oceanic port. The port is intended to provide an alternative route for trade between India and Afghanistan.
In October last year, India sent its first shipment of wheat to Afghanistan through the Chabahar Port.
Commenting on US President Donald Trump’s decision to walk out from the Iran Deal, Shankar underscored that he had exited the deal due to his “own assessment”, adding that whatever decision his predecessor Barack Obama took, he had outwardly rejected it.
Acknowledging that it would lead to a turbulence within the region, he added that much depends upon the European countries on how to deal with the US.
“A lot will depend on Iran’s response and also kinds of responses from China and Russia. For India, we need to calibrate our position depending on responses at different levels.”
President Trump on Tuesday announced the US withdrawal from the Iran deal or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), calling it as an “embarrassment” and “defective at its core”.
He terminated the US participation in the JCPOA citing that the deal failed to protect America’s national security interest.
Shankar asserted that the sanctions on Iran’s trading activities would complicate energy imports with India.
“Iran is an important energy supplier, it is the third largest supplier of oil. If the US is going to be very inflexible with Iran’s trade, we would be affected. We would have to see how this plays out,” he said.
He called for collective efforts to be done by the European countries to prevail upon President Trump’s decision. He, however, stressed that this would be unlikely.
The Iran nuclear deal was signed between six countries in 2015 – Iran, the US, Britain, Germany, Russia, France, and China for lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations to the country’s nuclear programme.
Other world powers have vowed to uphold the landmark deal. The deal places restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme.
