India accelerates Iranian port project after U.S.-Iran thaw

By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) – – India is sending a team to Iran to speed up work on a port that will provide access to resource-rich Central Asia and Afghanistan, officials said, moving quickly to take advantage of a thaw in Iran’s relations with the West. The port of Chabahar in southeast Iran is central to India’s efforts to circumvent Pakistan and open up a route to landlocked Afghanistan where it has developed close security ties and economic interests. The port, which India is partly financing, will also be another gateway to Iran itself for Indian commerce.