Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: India weighs the future of a port project in Iran amid new U.S. tariffs, exiled members of Bangladesh’s ousted government voice frustrations ahead of elections in the country, and the Maldives leads the region in passport power.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: India weighs the future of a port project in Iran amid new U.S. tariffs, exiled members of Bangladesh’s ousted government voice frustrations ahead of elections in the country, and the Maldives leads the region in passport power.

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s new 25 percent tariff on countries doing business with Iran has put India in a tough spot, jeopardizing the future of an investment project teeming with geopolitical and strategic significance.

Nearly a decade ago, in May 2016, India struck a major transport corridor deal with Iran and Afghanistan. New Delhi agreed to provide $500 million in investments to develop a port in the southern Iranian city of Chabahar. The agreement also included plans for new roads and a railroad from Chabahar to the Afghan border.

The plans fell short in part because New Delhi held back on investments due to U.S. sanctions on Tehran—even as it received several U.S. sanctions waivers that allowed it to keep working on the project. (U.S. sanctions on Tehran scaled back up after Trump took office in 2017 and withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal a year later.) Trump’s new levy poses the latest challenge to the project.

Soon after Trump’s tariff announcement, India’s Economic Times claimed New Delhi had transferred its entire current financial commitment to Chabahar—valued at $120 million—to Tehran. India reportedly told the U.S. Treasury Department that it would “wind down all activities at the Port of Chabahar.” New Delhi’s latest sanctions waiver is set to expire in April.

Last week, however, unnamed Indian government sources disputed claims that New Delhi was halting participation in Chabahar. “Exiting the port is not an option,” the sources told NDTV, adding that India is seeking a “middle-ground” with the United States.

Chabahar remains a strategically critical investment for New Delhi. It is meant to enable India to reach, via Afghanistan, Central Asia—a region rich with natural gas and critical minerals. New Delhi has sought to deepen engagement in the region in recent years but lacks direct land access because Pakistan doesn’t grant India transit rights. Chabahar offers the next........

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