US Destroys Chabahar Control Tower, Hitting India’s $120M Port Investment

On July 8, US Central Command struck Iran's Chabahar port, destroying the maritime traffic control tower and damaging two marine piers, Shahid Beheshti and Kalantari. Iranian state media confirmed the strikes the following morning.

The attack came hours after President Trump declared the ceasefire negotiated earlier this year "over," citing attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. It was the first known US strike on Chabahar since that April ceasefire.

India has $120 million in Chabahar. The port is the heart of the International North-South Transport Corridor, a route that lets Indian goods reach Afghanistan and Central Asia by road and rail without crossing Pakistani territory. Chabahar is Iran's only deep-water oceanic port on the Indian Ocean coast.

With the control tower gone and both piers damaged, Indian officials said they were analyzing data to assess the long-term viability of their shipping terminals at the port. There is no comparable facility on the Indian Ocean offering the same overland access to those markets.