According to the Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization, India has paid off its USD 120 million investment commitment toward the development of Chabahar port in Iran. India-supplied heavy port equipment, including mobile harbour cranes, are operational at the Shahid Beheshti terminal, but India has withdrawn managerial presence at the Shahid Beheshti terminal although India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) was granted the right to operate the Shahid Beheshti terminal for a 10-year period in May 2024. IGPL had held its most recent Annual General Meeting in December 2025, with its latest balance sheet dated 31 March 2025.

Chabahar is central to India’s maritime access to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan. Trade with Afghanistan has assumed more importance after Inda has accorded de-facto recognition of the Talian regime in Kabul and accepted a Taliban ambassador at the Afghan embassy at New Delhi. Chabahar is also a key node in India’s International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), enabling faster trade links with Central Asia, Russia, and Europe.

Bending To US Diktat

India took the above action fearing sanctions by Donald Trump administration. Trump has also been threatening military action against Iran but is probably weighing the possibility of Iranian response against America’s foreign bases, which Iran has threatened. In the event of American casualties, Trump’s ratings could spiral down. But Trump is an unpredictable neurotic, who could still attack Iran, to also harm the INSTC and trade through it with Russia. Deaths apart, the fact that some 50 mosques have been burnt in Iran proves it is the handiwork of the CIA and Mossad as, in an Islamic country like Iran, protesters would not burn mosques. Also, the video clip showing an Iranian woman taking off her hijab in defiance has an Israeli flag close by (https://www.facebook.com/reel/1548020036516084).  

Shahid Beheshti terminal is now being operated by Iranians. India can no doubt “buy back" operational control of the terminal by paying the required amount to Iran but India’s fear of Trump is conspicuous at a time when even the European Union is holding an emergency meeting to decide suspension of  its trade deal with the US (https://x.com/BRICSinfo/status/2012628293426524271?s=20) and Europe has sent troops to Greenland to oppose Trump’s takeover..

The Indian government’s deference to the US, despite the fact that Trump is unabashedly backing Pakistan, with the CIA suspected to be behind the Gen Z revolts in Nepal and Bangladesh, and making all out effort to destabilize India, reflects insecurity in the extreme, with indications it is prepared to bend more. India’s insecurity is also being highlighted on social media. One post on X reads: “Never thought there’d be a time when, out of all our neighbours, our best relations would be with the Taliban.”

Wards of many Indian politicians having US citizenship and settled in the US do contribute to India’s appeasement of the US (https://news4masses.com/indias-reverse-cha-cha-cha/), but India assuming the presidentship of 2026 BRICS appears all set to promote the petrodollars and trade in USD. Indian External Affairs S Jaishankar has announced that next BRICS Summit will focus on ‘humanity-first’ strategy to promote global welfare. This when India lacks courage to condemn Taliban’s human right violations against women and the genocide in Gaza with 71,000+ Palestinians killed and counting. India also skipped the BRICS naval exercise with Russia, China, Iran, and South Africa, despite being invited, obviously to appease Trump.

But India will go all out to woo Trump as part of the Quad, participate in naval exercises and emphasizing counter-terrorism cooperation, while Hisham Elahi Zaheer, radical an Islamic preacher and close associate of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, who is touring the US has been provided a public platform to deliver a speech at Ummul Qura Mosque in Brooklyn, New York.

Reality Checks For India

Strategic analyst Sadanand Dhume exposed India’s hollowness on X by saying that a series of brutal reality checks over the past year has exposed the limits of Indian economic, technological, and military power, adding "Shouting $4T economy at the top of your lungs every five minutes means little when you face a hostile $20T economy at your doorstep, and a $30T superpower with only one question: What have you done for me lately?..... India is a middle power in a rough neighbourhood, and in some ways less secure than it was three decades ago.” 

“Much of what is being touted as economic reforms in India these days consists of reversing the government’s own previous policy errors”, he added.

In this backdrop, opening up India fully to Chinese, including inviting the Chinese delegations, is akin to arranging visits of KFC owners to poultry farms! The hubris that this was to familiarize two big political parties and two economic powers with each other must have amused Beijing endlessly.

Finally, insecurity is palpable in India’s handling of China and the US.  About time we get over this.

(The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal. )