Devirupa Mitra 
New Delhi: A month after the Trump administration signalled a possible review of the sanctions exemption for Chabahar while tightening measures against Iran, the Indian ambassador in Tehran met the Taliban-appointed acting envoy in the Iranian capital to discuss the strategic port.
A statement on Monday (March 3) from the Afghan embassy in Tehran, which has been under Taliban control since 2023, said that acting charge d’affaires Fazl Mohammad Haqqani met India’s ambassador, Rudra Gaurav Shresth.
This was reportedly the first formal meeting between senior Indian and Afghan officials in Iran. It is learnt that the Afghan side had requested the meeting, seemingly prompted by the US move to reassess the sanctions waiver on the port on the Gulf of Oman.
The Afghan embassy’s statement said the discussions focused on developing bilateral cooperation, particularly on expanding trade through Chabahar.
Despite not officially recognising the Islamic Emirate, India has stepped up its engagement with the Taliban, with foreign secretary Vikram Misri meeting Taliban foreign minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai in January.
While these growing exchanges may have occurred amid Kabul’s troubled ties with one neighbour, Pakistan, the latest meeting was undoubtedly driven by the Taliban government’s mounting concern over US President Donald Trump’s move to pressure another immediate neighbour, Iran.
Just two weeks into his second term, Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum launching a “maximum pressure” campaign that introduced a series of measures aimed at preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
Iran has consistently maintained that it has no intention of acquiring nuclear weapons and that its nuclear programme remains within international legal frameworks.
One provision in the memorandum authorised the US secretary of state to decide whether to “modify or rescind sanctions waivers, particularly those that provide Iran any degree of economic or financial relief, including those related to Iran’s Chabahar port project”.
While there was no immediate reaction from India as it tried to understand the implications, a senior Indian diplomat reiterated a week later that the “Chabahar port has proven its strong potential” as a connectivity hub.
Speaking at Iran’s national day celebrations, secretary (east) in the external affairs ministry Jaideep Mazumdar noted that the port was conceived to provide Afghanistan with much-needed alternative connectivity for reconstruction and economic development while strengthening trade and economic ties with Central Asia.
In May 2024, India and Iran signed a ten-year contract to develop and operate the Shahid Beheshti terminal, with Mazumdar calling it a “significant milestone” in bilateral ties.
Just like Chabahar offered India an alternative route to Afghanistan and Central Asia, the Taliban government too has shown increasing interest in expanding trade through the port, seeking to reduce dependence on Pakistani ports amid worsening ties with Islamabad.
Like India, the Taliban government has also sought to expand trade through Chabahar as an alternative to Pakistani ports, amid deteriorating relations with Pakistan over the presence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants on Afghan soil, who carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
In March 2024, the Taliban had proposed opening a commercial office at the Chabahar port.
During Trump’s first term, the US withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and reimposed sanctions in November 2018.
However, the Chabahar port received a waiver on the grounds that its activities were “vital for the ongoing support of Afghanistan’s growth and humanitarian relief”.
A year later, a US official clarified that the “narrow exemption” applied only to the development of the Chabahar port and a rail line facilitating the export of refined oil products to Afghanistan. The official added that the exemption would remain in place as long as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps did not participate in the port project.
While Trump’s first administration engaged with the Taliban while bypassing Kabul, his second term has seen a harsher stance toward the group now ruling Afghanistan. He has called for the dismissal of generals involved in the chaotic US withdrawal and condemned the Taliban for profiting from abandoned military equipment, further straining ties.
The potential removal of sanctions on the strategic port, explicitly mentioned in the US presidential document, comes at a time when the Taliban is in power in Afghanistan and also comes when the Iranian government is grappling with multiple geopolitical pressures, especially from the fallout of the Gaza war.
In New Delhi, the prevailing view is that the fate of the waiver could hinge on Iran’s negotiations with European nations on reviving talks over its nuclear programme. Just a week before Trump’s inauguration, Iran held preliminary discussions with French, British and German officials in Geneva to explore the possibility of a new agreement.
After the imposition of Trump’s renewed “maximum pressure” policy last month, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi stated that Iran was willing to negotiate with Washington on its nuclear programme and related sanctions, but ruled out talks under the latest US pressure tactics.
“Iran does not want to negotiate with a country that is simultaneously imposing new sanctions,” he said on February 9.
While Tehran’s flexibility in the talks with the Europeans may be a factor on whether a trigger is ever pulled on the Chabahar port, Iran revealed that New Delhi was also talking to Washington.
“We are aware that the Indians are consulting with the Americans about the cancellation of the exemption for this port,” Aragchi told an Indian media channel.