oppn parties US Threat Of Sanctions Over Chahabar Port Deal Changes Its Past Position

News Snippets

  • The Indian envoy in Bangladesh was summoned by the country's government over the breach in the Bangladesh mission in Agartala
  • Bank account to soon have 4 nominees each
  • TMC and SP stayed away from the INDIA bloc protest over the Adani issue in the Lok Sabha
  • Delhi HC stops the police from arresting Nadeem Khan over a viral video which the police claimed promoted 'enmity'. Court says 'India's harmony not so fragile'
  • Trafiksol asked to refund IPO money by Sebi on account of alleged fraud
  • Re goes down to 84.76 against the USD but ends flat after RBI intervenes
  • Sin goods like tobacco, cigarettes and soft drinks likely to face 35% GST in the post-compensation cess era
  • Bank credit growth slows to 11% (20.6% last year) with retail oans also showing a slowdown
  • Stock markets continue their winning streak on Tuesday: Sensex jumps 597 points to 80845 and Nifty gains 181 points to 24457
  • Asian junior hockey: Defending champions India enter the finals by beating Malaysia 3-1, to play Pakistan for the title
  • Chess World title match: Ding Liren salvages a sraw in the 7th game which he almost lost
  • Experts speculate whether Ding Liren wants the world title match against D Gukesh to go into tie-break after he let off Gukesh easily in the 5th game
  • Tata Memorial Hospital and AIIMS have severely criticized former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for claiming that his wife fought back cancer with home remedies like haldi, garlic and neem. The hospitals warned the public for not going for such unproven remedies and not delaying treatment as it could prove fatal
  • 3 persons died and scores of policemen wer injured when a survey of a mosque in Sambhal near Bareilly in UP turned violent
  • Bangladesh to review power pacts with Indian companies, including those of the Adani group
Devendra Fadnavis to be the next chief minister of Maharashtra after Eknath Shinde agrees to join the government as deputy CM
oppn parties
US Threat Of Sanctions Over Chahabar Port Deal Changes Its Past Position

By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2024-05-17 06:26:42

The US has taken cognizance of the long-term deal India has signed with Iran for managing the Chabahar port. The US state department has said that anyone dealing with Iran must be ready to face consequences. The US had advised other countries in the past against dealing with Iran over its alleged attempts to go nuclear. Hence, the state department is of the view that India's deal violates that advice and India needs to be aware of potential risk of US sanctions.

But there is a difference. India has been managing the Chabahar port on a yearly renewable agreement for the last five years. India Port Global Limited (IPGL) has been managing the Shahid Behesti terminal at Chabahar since December 24, 2018. The agreement was renewed every year. The US knows about this and has not frowned upon the arrangement in the past or talked about sanctions regarding that. But this time, India has inked a 10-year deal for further developing the terminal and managing it.

This long term arrangement was necessary in order to make substantial investments in upgrading the facility. India has pledged to invest more than $100mn to upgrade the terminal. After all, it does not make sense to invest if there remains uncertainty over the extension of the yearly agreement. Since Chabahar port is strategic to India in bypassing the land route over Pakistan for shipment of goods to Afghanistan, India has a huge stake in developing and managing it.

India's view, as stated by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, is that since the US knew about India's long association with the Chahabar port. The US had recognized the larger relevance of the port and had appreciated India's stand in the past. Hence, he argued, it should not take a "narrow view" now as the port had larger relevance for the entire region. He stressed that India would have signed a long-term pact earlier but there were problems on the Iranian side. Since the problems have been sorted now and since India wants to develop the facility further, it has just converted the yearly arrangement into a long term one. No one should be agitated about that.