India’s stake in Chabahar Port in Iran
BILATERAL – INDIA-ASIA
23 SEPTEMBER 2025
updated 31 OCTOBER 2025
- Chabahar Port is a seaport in Iran, on the Gulf of Oman.
- It serves as Iran’s only oceanic port, and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each of which has five berths.
- It is only about 170 kilometres west of the Pakistani port of Gwadar.
- 1973: Development of the port was first proposed by the last Shah of Iran, though development was delayed by the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
- 1983: The first phase of the port was opened during the Iran–Iraq War as Iran began shifting seaborne trade east towards the Pakistani border in order to decrease dependency on ports in the Persian Gulf, which were vulnerable to attack by the Iraqi Air Force.
- 2003: India and Iran first agreed to plans to further develop Shahid Beheshti port, but did not do so on account of sanctions against Iran.
- May 2016 : India and Iran signed a bilateral agreement in which India would refurbish one of the berths at Shahid Beheshti port, and reconstruct a 600 meter long container handling facility at the port.
- The port is partly intended to provide an alternative for trade between India and Afghanistan as it is 800 kilometers closer to the border of Afghanistan than Pakistan’s Karachi port.
- October 2017 : India’s first shipment of wheat to Afghanistan was sent through the Chabahar Port.
- The port’s prospects came under a cloud due to Western sanctions against Iran.
- Following the re-imposition of sanctions against Iran, foreign companies became reluctant to participate in the port’s expansion, and only 10% of the port’s 8.5 million-ton total capacity was utilized in 2019.
- Sanctions also played a role in reducing India’s involvement and investment in the US$1.6 billion Chabahar–Zahedan railway.
- 2018: The first Trump administration gave a waiver to Indian operations at the Chabahar port as it was aimed at helping the development needs of the U.S.-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
- December 2018: India took over the port’s operations.
- September 2025: The U.S. Department of State said that it would revoke the waiver for Indian operations that was offered by Donald Trump in 2018. The move exposed anyone associated with the Chabahar project to U.S. sanctions under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act.
- October 29, 2025: India has received a waiver on the United States’ sanctions against Iran’s Chabahar port for six months
- The latest U.S. decision means that supplies to Afghanistan, especially essential items, can still be sent through Chabahar.
