By Trend
An Iranian official says that reports on handing over the
operation of the strategic Chabahar port to India are not true.
Hadi Haqshenas, deputy head of Iran's Ports and Maritime
Organization (PMO) for Maritime Affairs, told Iran's Young
Journalist Club website that the statements of Roads and Urban
Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi about the port’s operation were
distorted in translation.
Last week Indian media outlets quoted Akhoundi as saying that
Iran will hand over the port to Indian company within a month for
operation as per an interim pact.
The issue raised criticism in Iran and some political groups
slammed the Iranian administration on this issue.
Meanwhile, Haqshenas said that Iran has only handed over
development of the port to the Indian side, not running it.
However, the official added that loading and unloading
operations in the port is handed over to the Indian side.
Iran will never assign ownership of any port or land to another
country, he said.
In the meantime, he added that in return for importing equipment
and facilitating unloading and loading operations, the right to
operate the Chabahar port will be handed over to India for a
limited time.
The Chabahar port in the Sistan-Balochistan province in the
energy-rich nation’s southern coast is easily accessible from
India’s western coast. The port provides India with an easier
land-sea route to Afghanistan. In November, India sent its first
cargo of wheat to Afghanistan through Chabahar in what appeared to
be a run dry of a multi-modal connectivity route.
A rail link between Chabahar and Zahedan and thereon to
Afghanistan is a crucial part of India’s ambitious extra-regional
connectivity plans over which Tehran, New Delhi and Kabul have
signed a basic agreement.
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