New Delhi: The external affairs ministry has claimed that New Delhi is in talks with the US over its extended sanctions waiver for Iran’s Chabahar port – which India has committed to developing – that is valid till April, at a time when Donald Trump has threatened a 25% tariff on countries doing business with Tehran and as Indo-American trade negotiations remain stalled.At its weekly press briefing on Friday (January 16), the ministry had to field multiple questions about the status of India’s role in Chabahar after a news report claimed India was preparing to exit from its involvement in the port amid the threat of US tariffs.While not directly referring to the report, the ministry spokesperson implied that India has not yet given up on the Chabahar port as it is still in talks with the US.However, he did not comment on several other parts of the report, including that government directors in the board of the state-run firm handling the port had resigned to avoid sanctions-related liability.The Economic Times had claimed on Thursday that Washington granted its six-month sanctions waiver extension for the Chabahar port in October after New Delhi submitted ‘details’ of its plan to “wind down all activities” at the facility, including its Shahid Beheshti terminal.‘It was known’ as far back as May 2024 when India signed a ten-year lease to equip and operate Chabahar that the US would reinstate sanctions on the port, the newspaper claimed.In light of this, ET cited a government source as saying, India transferred to Iran all of the roughly $120 million it planned to invest in the port in order to shield itself from liability in the event that sanctions would return. The Iranians would then be “free to do whatever they want with the money transferred by the Indian government”, “independently without any involvement from India”, the source reasoned.Government directors in the state-run India Ports Global Ltd (IPGL) resigned en masse from its board when Washington announced in September that it would discontinue Chabahar’s sanctions waiver, and IPGL’s website too was taken down in order to “insulate everybody associated with the port from potential sanctions”, ET reported.A second government source was quoted as saying that India had an imperative to “exit” the Chabahar port “unless the sanctions are eased by the US again”.Asked on Friday for a clarification on India’s status vis-a-vis Chabahar, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal simply said that New Delhi is in talks with the US over the extended waiver, which he said was “conditional”.“As you are aware, the US Department of Treasury had issued a letter outlining guidance … the guidance on the conditional sanctions waiver, which is valid till April 26, 2026. We remain engaged with the US side in working out this arrangement,” Jaiswal said.Later, when asked whether it looks like India is ‘disregarding’ or ‘downgrading’ its partnership with Iran, Jaiswal in a brief response said that New Delhi would ‘take forward’ its ‘long-standing’ relations with Tehran.“We have a long-standing partnership with Iran. We are closely following the developments and we’ll take our partnership forward,” the spokesperson said.India signed a trilateral agreement with Tehran and Kabul in 2016 over the development of Chabahar, which it has sought not only as a means to gain a foothold in the region but also as a connectivity hub for Afghanistan and Central Asia that would bypass Pakistan.IPGL took over operations at the port in 2018, when Trump in his first presidency also imposed sanctions on Iran. Lobbying by Indian and Afghan officials resulted in Washington granting the facility a sanctions waiver. In May 2024, the state-run company acquired a ten-year lease for operating and equipping the port, towards which it announced an investment of around $120 million.However, the Trump administration in February 2025 signalled its intention to put Chabahar back under sanctions as part of its plan to apply ‘maximum pressure’ on Tehran. It then announced in September that it would revoke the waiver, a month after which India said it had received a six-month exemption.Although Indian officials in February had reiterated New Delhi’s commitment to the port, much has changed since that month. Washington has imposed an unprecedented 50% tariff on Indian goods – half of it a ‘penalty’ against India’s sustained purchases of Russian oil – trade talks between the two sides remain stalled and the US’s claims of having brokered the May 2025 ceasefire between India and Pakistan have all added strain to Indo-American ties.Trump this month also claimed that his government would impose 25% sanctions on any country doing business with Iran, whose government under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has effected a severe security crackdown on anti-government protests in which over 2,700 people have been killed per one estimate.Jaiswal on Friday noted that India is “closely following” Trump’s new tariff threat.He also reiterated the Indian government’s advisories to citizens not to travel to Iran as well as to expatriates to return to India “by whatever means are available”, including commercial flights, which remain an option.