On 13 May, Indian Ports Global Limited (IPGL) signed a Long-Term Bilateral Contract on Chabahar Port Operation with the Port & Maritime Organisation (PMO) of Iran. This enables operations of Shahid-Beheshti port in the Chabahar Port Development Project for a period of 10 years. IPGL will invest $120M with an additional $250M in financing, bringing the contract's value to $370M, said Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash. Hours after the agreement, the United States – without naming India – issued a warning to anyone considering business deals with Iran. On 14 May, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the Chabahar Port project in Iran will benefit the entire region and people should not take a narrow view of it. He pointed out that in the past the US itself appreciated Chabahar's larger relevance in the region. In Nov 2018, the US exempted India from sanctions for the port’s development. The port serves as a point of trade with landlocked Central Asian countries but so does opening the border between India and Pakistan through Panjab. In spite of the demand, India allows limited trade on the border (See story 3). India is trying to balance its deal with Iran by supplying 27-Tons of weapons to Israel. Spain has denied docking permission to a Denmark-flagged cargo ship carrying weapons from India, destined for Israel. On 20 May, Iran announced that its President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in a remote, mountainous area of Iran's northwest. This has laid to rest any talk of sanctions for now.
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