India and Afghanistan are pushing ahead with plans to open a new transportation corridor between the two countries via Iran’s strategic port of Chabahar despite US sanctions.

Indian media have quoted informed officials as saying that the country plans to speed up the development of Iran’s Chabahar port before the new round of US sanctions against Tehran is put into place.

India's top diplomat says New Delhi will continue to buy Iran's oil despite US sanctions.

Officials from India, Iran and Afghanistan have discussed the development of the Iranian port of Chabahar ahead of a meeting with the US which is opposed to any dealing with Tehran.

Concerns are rising in New Delhi that Trump’s efforts to re-instate US sanctions against Iran would jeopardize an ambitious multinational connectivity project involving India, Iran and Afghanistan.  

Iran has awarded a much-awaited agreement to India over the partial management of its strategic Chabahar port.

While Iran seeks to use foreign investment as a buffer against fresh US pressures to revive its economy, India hopes to utilize Iran’s transit potentials to embolden its connectivity footprints.    

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is expected to seek “billions of dollars” of Indian investments in the Islamic Republic during his three-day visit to the country, diplomats say. 

China is seeking to establish a link between Gwadar port in Pakistan and Chabahar port in southeastern Iran. 

A train carrying 350 tonnes of tangerines arrived from Pakistan in Iran and is on its way to Kazakhstan where it would be taken to Russia in a later stage.