Gadkari and Rouhani New Delhi, Aug. 6: Shipping minister Nitin Gadkari today committed India to the "earliest" possible development of the strategically critical Chabahar port project amid friction in the relationship with Iran partly caused New Delhi's delays. The shipping minister met Rouhani, First Vice-President Eshaq Jagangiri and Iran's roads and urban development minister Abbas Akhoundi, the foreign ministry said in New Delhi. Tensions over a gas field that New Delhi wants, but that Tehran is bargaining hard over, haven't helped either. For India, the Chabahar port is strategically critical as a gateway into Iran and land-locked Afghanistan that bypasses the land route through Pakistan, with which New Delhi continues to have tense relations. The port is important for India as it outflanks the Chinese-built Gwadar Port in Pakistan's Balochistan that New Delhi views as a potential threat in the event of a military confrontation.

Source: The Telegraph August 06, 2017 21:21 UTC