Page 48 - IRANRptSep21

India expects full-scale operations at Iran’s Chabahar oceanic port by end of May
cancelled. It added that the incident followed “a widespread disruption in ... computer systems that is probably due to a cyber-attack”.
Sadegh Sekri, a spokesman for Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, told ISNA news agency on July 11 that “there has been no disruption or cyber-attack for passenger, cargo or intercity trains”. However, the Fars report included a picture of a station’s departures and arrivals board showing rows of cancelled trips. A message read “long delays due to cyber-attacks”.
Iran has suffered a multitude of cyber-attacks in recent years, but is also believed to have orchestrated many itself. Israel, sometimes regarded as backed by the US, has usually been seen as the foe and the target. Some Israeli cyber-attacks are thought to have targeted Iran’s nuclear fuel production efforts.
India expects that full-scale operations will start at Iran’s sole oceanic port, Chabahar, by the end of May, according to the Indian ports and shipping minister.
Iran and India are jointly developing Chabahar, located on the Gulf of Oman and offering unhindered access to the Indian Ocean, given its potential for facilitating trade with Afghanistan and central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, with the avoidance of New Delhi’s arch-rival Pakistan. Pakistan and China are jointly developing Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, a short distance from Chabahar across the border from Iran in Pakistan, as a rival port.
The US maintains a sanctions waiver on the development of the port, taking into account its importance to the development of the conflict-torn Afghan economy, but local reports suggest that indirect effects of American sanctions have slowed down the emergence of Chabahar as a fully-fledged cargo hub. Indian officials are now counting on a thaw in relations between Washington and Tehran under US President Joe Biden before moving forward with $500mn of investments centred on Chabahar, Indian press reports indicate. India is developing the Shahid Beheshti complex and one other terminal at the port under an agreement signed with Iran. Under the deal, it will operate the terminals for 10 years.
Mandaviya said the port had already commenced operations in a limited way and the growth potential was evident.
Chabahar port handled 123 vessels and 1.8mn tonnes of bulk and general cargoes from February 2019 to January 2021, he said.
“This is much higher than our expectations. Imagine the scale of operations and freight saving once it is fully operational,” the minister added.
Last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, India used Chabahar to send 75,000 tonnes of wheat as humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and 25 tonnes of pesticide malathion to Iran to deal with a locust invasion.
As part of the agreement with Iran, India is set to provide six cranes and other equipment worth $85mn to equip and operationalise the Shahid Beheshti terminal.
India also has plans to lay around 600 kilometres of railway line from Chabahar to Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchestan in Iran close to the Afghan border, at a cost of $1.6bn.
New Delhi has also proposed the inclusion of Chabahar port in the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), connecting Mumbai with Moscow via Iran and Azerbaijan.
48 IRAN Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com