Iran drops India from Chabahar Rail Project.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson has ruled out the speculative reports of India being dropped from the Chabahar project.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson has ruled out the speculative reports of India being dropped from the Chabahar project.Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on his visit to Tehran on May 26, 2016, had signed an MoU with Iranian President Rouhani and Afghanistan President Ghani. The MoU stated that India would invest $500 million to construct the Chabahar-Zahedan railway line. The port would open a transit route to Afghanistan and Central Asia for Indian goods and products, avoiding Pakistan's land route.

Recently, many reports were speculating that Iran had dropped India from the project citing financial problems.

However, in a media briefing on July 16, 2020, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava expressed that the reports were baseless and that a feasibility survey had been carried out, along with a spot assessment.

The Indian embassy in Tehran tweeted on July 20 that the ambassador to Iran, Mr. Gaddam Dharmendra, was invited by Iran's Minister of Roads and the head of the Iranian Islamic Republic Railway to review the ongoing cooperation on the Chabahar-Zahedan Rail Project. Iranian Railways head Saeed Rasouli had also stated that Iran and India were determined to continue the collaboration.