India's plan to develop Iranian port faces hurdles

New Delhi

WESTERN manufacturers are shying away from supplying equipment for an Iranian port that India is developing for fear the United States may reimpose sanctions on Tehran, Indian officials say, dealing a blow to New Delhi's strategic ambitions in the region.

Lying on the Gulf of Oman along the approaches to the Straits of Hormuz, the port of Chabahar is central to India's hopes of cracking open a transport corridor to Central Asia and Afghanistan that bypasses arch-rival Pakistan.