US ends Chabahar Port waiver, revokes visas of some Indians for narco-trafficking

Trump Administration’s twin moves come even as the US and India just restarted negotiations for a trade deal amid strain in ties.

New Delhi: President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday moved to make it difficult for India to continue its role in the operations of the Chabahar Port in Iran, even as the United States embassy in New Delhi revoked and subsequently denied visas for “certain business executives and corporate leadership” of India for their alleged involvement in trafficking fentanyl precursors.

The back-to-back moves by Washington, D.C., came even as the exchange of positive vibes between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently led to the restart of negotiations for a trade deal between the two nations, even as the US president’s 50% tariff on all imports from India strained the bilateral relations.

In keeping with Trump’s policy to exert “maximum pressure” on Iran, his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has revoked the sanctions exception issued in 2018 under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act (IFCA) for assistance for reconstruction and economic development of Afghanistan, with effect from September 29 next.

“Once the revocation is effective, persons who operate the Chabahar Port or engage in other activities described in IFCA may expose themselves to sanctions under IFCA,” the US Department of State warned in a statement issued in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

The waiver granted by Washington, D.C., in 2018 helped India to continue developing the Chabahar Port despite the US sanctions on Iran. The port has strategic importance for New Delhi as it gives India a sea-land access to Afghanistan and Central Asia through Iran, bypassing its arch-rival Pakistan. On 24 December 2018, an Indian company, India Ports Global Limited (IPGL), through its wholly owned subsidiary, India Ports Global Chabahar Free Zone (IPGCFZ), took over the operations of Chabahar Port.

On 13 May 2024, IPGL signed a ten-year contract with the Ports and Maritime Organisation (PMO) of the Islamic Republic of Iran for equipping and operating the Shahid Beheshti Terminal of Chabahar Port. India has already supplied port equipment worth about $ 24 million to develop the Chabahar Port.

Trump on Wednesday named India, along with China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, among 23 major drug transit or major illicit drug-producing countries.

The US embassy in New Delhi followed it up on Thursday and revoked and subsequently denied visas for “certain business executives and corporate leadership” of India in accordance with Section 221(i), Section 212(a)(2)(C), and 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of the US, making the individuals and their close family members ineligible for travel to America.

The US embassy in New Delhi said that it was further flagging executives connected with companies known to have trafficked fentanyl precursors for heightened scrutiny if and when they apply for visas.

Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic piperidine opioid primarily used as an analgesic but also abused as a narcotic substance. A 2020 report by the US Drug Enforcement Administration noted that India was emerging as a source for finished fentanyl powder and fentanyl precursor chemicals.

A report by the United States intelligence community released in March 2025, identified India and China as ‘state actors’ often ‘directly or indirectly’ enabling the ‘non-state actors’ as sources of precursors and equipment for drug traffickers.

“Individuals and organisations involved in the illegal production and trafficking of drugs to the US, along with their families, will face consequences that may include being denied access to the US,” Chargé d’affaires of the US embassy in New Delhi, Jorgan Andrews, said. “The US embassy in New Delhi remains steadfast in its commitment to combating illicit drug trafficking.”

On March 20 this year, Tanweer Ahmed Mohamed Hussain Parkar, the Chief Global Business Officer of Vasudha Pharma Chem Limited, based in Hyderabad in India, along with the company’s Marketing Director Venkata Naga Madhusudhan Raju Manthena and Marketing Representative Krishna Vericharla, had been charged in a federal court in Washington, D.C., for allegedly conspiring to send 4 metric tons of a precursor chemical to the US and Mexico to be used for manufacturing fentanyl.

Trump submitted a ‘Presidential Determination’ to the US Congress on Monday, designating 23 countries as “major drug transit or major illicit drug producing” nations.

India is one of the countries identified in the Presidential Determination as responsible for sourcing and transporting illicit drugs into the US.

The relations between India and the US came under stress over the past few weeks after Trump had, on July 30, announced a 25% tariff on all goods exported by India to the US.

He had also slammed New Delhi for buying defence hardware and energy from Russia, despite the sanctions imposed on the former Soviet Union nation’s special military operations in Ukraine. He had followed it up on July 31 by calling the economies of India and Russia ‘dead’. He had then announced on August 6 that an additional 25% duty would be levied on all US imports from India, thus totalling the tariffs at 50%.

What also riled New Delhi was the US president's repeated claims that he had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan when the two South Asian neighbours had gone to the brink of a war between May 7 and 10.