WASHINGTON, Nov 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The United States said Tuesday it
would exempt Iran’s Indian-backed port of Chabahar from new sanctions on
Tehran, recognizing the value of the project to Afghanistan.
Iran late last year inaugurated the port on the Indian Ocean which
provides a key supply route to landlocked Afghanistan and allows India to
bypass its historic enemy Pakistan.
The United States will exempt from sanctions the development of Chabahar
along with an attached railway project and Iranian petroleum shipments into
Afghanistan, the State Department said.
President Donald Trump’s “South Asia strategy underscores our ongoing
support of Afghanistan’s economic growth and development as well as our close
partnership with India,” a State Department spokesperson said.
“This exception relates to reconstruction assistance and economic
development for Afghanistan. These activities are vital for the ongoing
support of Afghanistan’s growth and humanitarian relief,” the spokesperson
said.
The United States, which has been building closer relations with New Delhi
since the late 1990s, earlier exempted India from sanctions that took effect
on Monday.
The Trump administration has vowed to exert maximum pressure on Iran to
end its support for regional proxies, exiting a denuclearization agreement
that brought sanctions relief.
Trump’s decision has been opposed by European powers as well as other
nations including India, which has largely warm relations with Iran and
accuses Pakistan of fomenting attacks on its soil.
India has poured $2 billion into Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led
overthrow of the extremist Taliban regime, which was also opposed by Iran.
India has seen Chabahar as a key way both to send supplies to Afghanistan
and to step up trade with Central Asia as well as Africa.
Iran has plans to link the port by railway to Zahedan on the Pakistani
border up to Mashhad in the northeast.