Mohammad-Mahdi Shahriari: 100 hectares of Chabahar port may be leased to Afghanistan

Mohammad-Mahdi Shahriari, a member of the National Security Committee of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, announced the possibility of leasing part of the land of Chabahar port to Afghanistan. According to him, the Islamic Republic may hand about 100 hectares of the port's land to the Afghan side for two to five years so that it can import its goods through this route. The remarks were published on Wednesday, 14 October 2026.

Explaining the plan, Shahriari said Afghanistan has no access to open waters and that the transit of goods across Iranian territory also benefits Iran. He stressed that Iran's territorial sovereignty over these lands would be preserved. So far no official decision or confirmation of the plan has been announced by the Islamic Republic's government, and his remarks amount to a possibility.

Leasing Chabahar port to the Taliban government

The counterparty to this possible contract is the Taliban government, which most countries in the world have not recognised. Chabahar is Iran's only ocean port and one of the country's most important strategic assets on the coast of the Gulf of Oman, and handing over land there, even as a lease, raises serious questions about the national interest and oversight of it.

The remarks come as Iran's economy is shrinking under the pressure of war, sanctions and the US naval blockade; the International Monetary Fund has forecast that Iran's economy will shrink 7.6 per cent this year. Sistan and Baluchestan province, where Chabahar is located, remains one of the country's most deprived provinces and in recent months has been the scene of successive armed clashes.

What is still unclear

Shahriari did not say under what conditions, at what rent and under the oversight of which body the land would be handed over, or whether a plan on this has reached the Majlis or the government. The absence of these details, together with the ambiguity about the counterparty, turns his remarks into a question about the transparency of the Islamic Republic's decision-making on Iran's national assets.

A member of the Majlis National Security Committee announced the possibility of leasing 100 hectares of Chabahar port to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.