India seals deal to operate Iran’s Chabahar port

FILE - Hassan Rouhani, who was president of Iran in 2017, poses during the inauguration a newly built extension of the port of Chabahar, near the Pakistani border, on the Gulf of Oman, southeastern Iran, Dec. 3, 2017.

India and Iran have signed a 10-year contract to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar, which New Delhi envisages as a strategic trade route to landlocked Central Asian republics, allowing it to bypass rival Pakistan.