The US threatens India with sanctions following Iran’s Chabahar Port deal, citing risks of business with Iran despite India’s investment

Within hours of India concluding a ten-year agreement to manage Iran’s Chabahar Port, the US reaffirmed its warning that “anyone considering business deals with Iran needs to be aware of the potential risk of sanctions.”

Days prior, following Iran’s strike on Israel, the US imposed fresh sanctions on the country that targeted the country’s manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles.

“We’re aware of these reports that Iran and India have signed a deal concerning the Chabahar port. I will let the government of India speak to its own foreign policy goals vis-a-vis the Chabahar port as well as its bilateral relationship with Iran,” Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson of the US State Department, said while responding to a question about the agreement between India and Iran.

“I will just say, as it relates to the United States, US sanctions on Iran remain in place and we’ll continue to enforce them,” he added.

Patel responded, “Broadly, you’ve heard us say this in a number of instances, that any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk that they are opening themselves up to and the potential risk of sanctions,” when asked if that would also mean including sanctions against Indian firms.

The context extends beyond Iran’s relations, as reported by GreatGameIndia, with US sanctions on Russia, prompted by the passing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, jeopardizing India’s oil supply from Russia.

According to a series of posts on X by the Indian Embassy in Iran, the deal between India and Iran was signed in Tehran by India Ports Global Ltd and the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran in the presence of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

India is taking over the management of an international port for the first time.

Three Chinese businesses were among the vendors that the US sanctioned in April of this year for their involvement in Pakistan’s ballistic missile program.

“The sanctions were made because these were entities that were proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and the means of their delivery. These were entities based in the PRC (People’s Republic of China), in Belarus, and that we have witnessed to have supplied equipment and other applicable items to Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme,” Patel had then said.

A few days later, the US imposed penalties on more than a dozen organizations, people, and ships—three of which were from India—for their role in enabling illegal commerce and the transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles on behalf of the Iranian military.

According to the US Department of Treasury, these businesses, people, and ships have been instrumental in enabling and funding the covert transfer of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia for use in the conflict in Ukraine.

THE CHABAHAR PORT

The Chabahar Port will undoubtedly see more investments and communication links pouring out of it after Iran and India inked a long-term contract for the operation of its Shahid Beheshti Port terminal on Monday, according to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

He added that the port will improve connections between Central Asia and India.

“Right now the port has not grown. If you don’t have a long-term agreement, it is difficult to invest in a port. So the very clear expectation is that part of the Chabahar that we are involved in will definitely see more investments, it will see more connectivity linkages coming out of that port,” Jaishankar said.

“We believe today that connectivity is a big issue in that part. Chabahar will connect us with Central Asia,” he added.