mumbai

Updated: May 26, 2016 12:34 IST

WASHINGTON: US senators questioned on Tuesday whether India’s development of a port in souther n Iran for trade access risked violating international sanctions, while a State Department official assured them the administration will closely examine the project.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday pledged up to $500 million to develop the Iranian port of Chabahar, to try to give his country trade access to Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. The route is currently all but blocked by Pakistan, long at odds politically with India.

“We have been very clear with the Indians (about) continuing restrictions on activities with respect to Iran,” Nisha Desai Biswal, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, said on Tuesday.

“We have to examine the details of the Chabahar announcement to see where it falls in that place,” she testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Developing the Chabahar port was seen as crucial for India because it will not only allow New Delhi to bypass Pakistan and access global markets but also counter China’s expanding influence in the Indian Ocean region.

The United States and Europe lifted sanctions in January under a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear programme, but some restrictions to trade remain, tied to issues such as human rights and terrorism.

Biswal said she believed India’s relationship with Iran was primarily focused on economic and energy issues, and said the administration recognised India’s need for a trade route.

“From the Indian perspective, Iran represents for India a gateway into Afghanistan and Central Asia,” she said. “It needs access that it doesn’t have.”

Biswal said she had not seen any sign of Indian engagement with Iran in areas, such as military cooperation, that might be of concern to the United States.

Modi i s due t o visit t he United States next month and will address a joint meeting of Congress, a rare honour.

Senator Ben Cardin, the committee’s top Democrat, asked if Biswal expected formal security cooperation agreements to be signed during that visit.

She noted that India and the United States have already strengthened their security cooperation in several areas. “We’re looking at what additional areas we can engage in to deepen that cooperation,” Biswal said.

Washington sees its relationship with India as critical, partly to counterbalance China’s rising power. President Barack Obama has called it “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.”