US clouds India's Chabahar dream

The US has announced that it will revoke the sanctions waiver granted to India in 2018 for operations at Iran's strategic Chabahar Port, a move that could impact Delhi's role in developing the key terminal, media reported on Thursday.

The decision, effective September 29, 2025, comes as part of Washington's "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran.

The waiver, issued under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act (IFCA), had allowed India and other countries to continue work on the port without facing US penalties. Chabahar is of strategic importance for India as it provides a trade route to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan.

In a statement on September 16, the State Department said the decision was "consistent with President Trump's maximum pressure policy to isolate the Iranian regime."

It added, "Once the revocation is effective, persons who operate the Chabahar Port or engage in other activities described in IFCA may expose themselves to sanctions under IFCA."

The State Department further said the move aligns with Washington's broader efforts to disrupt "illicit financial networks that sustain the Iranian regime and its military activities."

The revocation of the waiver puts India in a tricky spot. On May 13, 2024, New Delhi signed its first long-term overseas port agreement — a 10-year deal to operate Chabahar in partnership with Iran's Port and Maritime Organisation.

Under the contract, Indian Ports Global Limited (IPGL) committed about $120 million, along with plans to raise another $250 million in credit for infrastructure around the port.

For India, Chabahar is more than just a trade hub. New Delhi had first proposed to develop Chabahar back in 2003 as it provides a route to Afghanistan and Central Asia without relying on Pakistan, and it connects to the International North-South Transport Corridor linking India with Russia and Europe. The port has already been used to send wheat aid to Afghanistan and other vital supplies.

India had managed to keep the Chabahar Port project outside the purview of the sanctions reimposed by President Trump in his first term in 2018. The Department of State had given 'exemption' to certain sanctions concerning the development of Chabahar port and its associated railway, considering its significance to Afghanistan.

But with the US revoking the sanction exemption, India now faces the challenge of protecting its investment and companies involved in the project.

Washington's latest decision also comes at a sensitive time, as New Delhi tries to balance ties with both the US and Iran — while also keeping close relations with Israel and Gulf partners.

Strategically, Chabahar helps India counter China's growing influence in the Arabian Sea, since the Iranian port lies just 140km from Pakistan's Gwadar, which is run by Beijing. Losing room to operate here could impact India's ability to compete in the region.

Bagram Air Base

President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that he is working to reestablish a US presence at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, four years after America's chaotic withdrawal from the country left the base in the Taliban's hands.

Trump floated the idea during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he wrapped up a state visit to the UK and tied it to the need for the U.S. to counter its top rival, China.

"We're trying to get it back," Trump said of the base in an aside to a question about ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

While Trump described his call for the US military to reestablish a position in Afghanistan as "breaking news," the Republican president has previously raised the idea.

During his first presidency, Trump set the terms for the US withdrawal by negotiating a deal with the Taliban. The 20-year conflict came to an end in disquieting fashion under President Joe Biden: The US-backed Afghan government collapsed, a grisly bombing killed 13 US troops and 170 others, and thousands of desperate Afghans descended on Kabul's airport in search of a way out before the final U.S. aircraft departed over the Hindu Kush.

Biden's Republican detractors, including Trump, seized on it as a signal moment in a failed presidency. Those criticisms have persisted into the present day, including as recently as last week, when Trump claimed the move emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine in February 2022.

"He would have never done what he did, except that he didn't respect the leadership of the United States," Trump said, speaking of Putin. "They just went through the Afghanistan total disaster for no reason whatsoever. We were going to leave Afghanistan, but we were going to leave it with strength and dignity. We were going to keep Bagram Air Base — one of the biggest air bases in the world. We gave it to them for nothing."

It is unclear if the US has any new direct or indirect conversations with the Taliban government about returning to the country. But Trump hinted that the Taliban, who have struggled with an economic crisis, international legitimacy, internal rifts and rival militant groups since their return to power in 2021, could be game to allow the US military to return.

"We're trying to get it back because they need things from us," Trump said of the Taliban.

The president repeated his view that a US presence at Bagram is of value because of its proximity to China, the most significant economic and military competitor to the United States.

"But one of the reasons we want that base is, as you know, it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons," Trump said. "So a lot of things are happening."

While the US and the Taliban have no formal diplomatic ties, the sides have had hostage conversations. An American man who was abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist was released by the Taliban in March.

Last week, the Taliban also said they reached an agreement with US envoys on an exchange of prisoners as part of an effort to normalize relations between the United States and Afghanistan.

The Taliban gave no details of a detainee swap, and the White House did not comment on the meeting in Kabul or the results described in a Taliban statement. The Taliban released photographs from their talks, showing their foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, with Trump's special envoy for hostage response, Adam Boehler.

Officials at US Central Command in the Middle East and the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's office, referred questions about reestablishing a presence at Bagram to the White House.