India has failed Iran and Armenia - competition with the Middle Corridor will not take place

India abandoned its strategic partner, Iran, at the most difficult moment for this country.

As the Indian NDTV channel reported recently, the government has not invested funds for the development of the Iranian port of Chabahar in the financial budget for 2026. The reason was the tension between Iran and the United States. For several years, India has invested $10 million annually in the development of this Iranian port, which has served as a key trade hub for it with Central Asia and the Middle East. In addition, Chabahar was important for New Delhi in terms of competition with the Pakistani port of Gwadar and transit through Pakistan.

In September 2025, the United States expanded sanctions on Iran, while granting India a 6-month exemption to participate in the Chabahar project. The United States recently announced plans to impose additional 25 percent tariffs on Iran, and Tehran's Indian partners decided it was not worth spending the money.

Chabahar is located at the mouth of the Gulf of Oman and is the only Iranian port with direct access to the Indian Ocean and independent of the Persian Gulf.

The joint development of the port has been discussed by Tehran and Delhi since 2003. In 2022, the authorities of India and Iran agreed to expand Indian investments in the construction of the Iranian port, and a corresponding roadmap was drawn up. In May 2024, India and Iran signed a 10-year port management agreement with the possibility of automatic renewal.

We are interested in the fact that in 2024, at the height of the Armenian-Indian renaissance, Armenia was in the frame of this project. Yerevan has announced plans to participate in the management of the Chabahar port. After his trip to Mumbai, the then Deputy Minister of Economy Nasibyan stated that Chabahar would be of particular interest to Armenian logistics companies after the necessary infrastructure was established there. The port "will become an important hub for Armenia to develop and deepen trade relations with the outside world," Nasibyan said. Armenia pinned hopes on this port to become part of a hypothetical multimodal high-speed route that would leave the Middle Corridor out of business and help Yerevan finally close the topic of the Zangezur corridor.

The format in which India was going to include Armenia in this project remains shrouded in obscurity. Delhi had its own plans. She hoped, not without Western cues, to bypass the Chinese "Belt and Road", as well as to wipe the nose of the Pakistani port of Gwadar. The latter is located in the same geography as Chabahar. There is a very small distance between the two ports. Armenian experts noted that it is important for India to establish links with Europe and Central Asia, while Pakistan is blocking its path. India could use the route through Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea to connect with Central Asia and Europe. But India preferred to feed Armenia with promises and build projects, of which the Chabahar port was a part.

In 2024-2025, India allocated more than $43 million for the Chabahar Port project. Now, large Indian investments and hopes for an alternative route for trade with Afghanistan and the Central Asian states are under threat. Most of the Indian funds have already been allocated for the modernization of the port infrastructure, the development of the Shahid Beheshti terminal and the formation of a new logistics hub. India has also lost the opportunity to compete with China. The Pakistani port of Gwadar is a key hub of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative, providing China with direct access to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. India placed similar bets on Chabahar.

Recall that India has joined another project aimed against the Chinese "Belt and Road". The IMEC economic corridor, a memorandum on which was signed in September 2023 during the G20 summit on the initiative of the United States, collapsed without even forming a real agreement due to the sharp escalation in the Middle East.

If the powers had global goals in the Chabahar issue, Armenia needed only one thing - to gain access to the sea and, at the expense of rich partners, become part of international transit bypassing Azerbaijan and Turkey. When Baku was talking about Armenia's historic chance to become part of the international transit through the Zangezur corridor, the Armenian side was feverishly looking for an alternative to prove that it had a choice. In May 2025, Yerevan still thought that the Zangezur corridor had been archived and other plans could be safely made. In particular, about the Iranian port of Chabahar. Armenian media reported that Armenia is working on launching a route through Chabahar to connect with the Persian Gulf countries and India. The idea of the route appeared in 2023, but the project has been postponed. According to the plan, cargo from the Indian port of Mumbai should be delivered to Chabahar, then overland to Armenia, Georgia and further to Europe and Russia.

Armenian officials pointed out that the Chabahar port is considered by Armenia as a strategically important outlet to the open sea and an integral part of the North-South corridor. Plans were made to include the logistics chains of the Republic of Armenia in the port infrastructure. It was stated that although the port is a thousand kilometers away from Armenia, it is a priority area for the country's economic development. There was nothing behind these statements. Three months later, Armenia signed up to the "Trump Route," and dreams of the Persian Gulf began to take on more or less real outlines. Azerbaijan has once again pointed out to its neighbor a simple truth: Armenia's affairs do not depend on India or anyone else. They depend only on Azerbaijan. By building a corridor through Meghri, she will get her coveted access to the Middle East without Indian promises.

The port of Chabahar is not going anywhere. He remains in his place, but without Indian injections and under sanctions. But that's a completely different story.