Indian dreams of Chabahar Port in Iran, shattered
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NEW DELHI - According to a report in The Hindu <link>, India could be affected by the US decision with respect several factors, the main being oil prices.
Iran is presently India’s third biggest supplier (after Iraq and Saudi Arabia), and any increase in prices will hit both inflation levels as well as the Indian rupee, which breached Rs 67 to the U.S. dollar this week. In the past week alone, crude prices have crossed $70/bbl (barrel) level, touching a four-year high.
After Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to New Delhi in February, India committed to increasing its oil imports from Iran.
India has also committed $85 million to the development of Chabahar port in southeastern Iran and the US pulling out of the deal would bring plans of developing the region. Chabahar Port will come under severe restrictions and Indian dreams of huge investment in Chabahar Port and reaching Central Asia and Afghanistan by passing Pakistan will be shattered.
US President Donald Trump has announced on Tuesday that he is pulling out of an international nuclear deal with Iran, European officials said, in a move that would raise the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upset America's European allies and disrupt global oil supplies.
The 2015 deal, the signature foreign policy achievement of Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program to prevent it from being able to make an atomic bomb. Trump in his press conference blasted the Iran deal, called it 'disastrous' and 'embarrassment'.
Announcing that US is pulling away from the Iran deal, Trump said US will be much safer without it. Trump said highest level of economic sanctions would be imposed against Iran and any nation helping them to get nuclear weapons would also face sanctions.
Speaking out against the deal, Trump said, " At the point when the US had maximum leverage, this disastrous deal gave this regime — and it's a regime of great terror — many billions of dollars, some of it in actually cash, a great embarrassment to me as a citizen". He blamed the Obama administration for getting a weak deal.
