Part of International Relations — Global Issues. Common notes for UPSC Mains GS-II.
UPSC
📌 Background & Key Features
Scope: Sweeping sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, banking (SWIFT exclusion), and shipping since 2018’s "maximum pressure" campaign, with periodic secondary sanctions threats against third countries (including India) trading with Iran.
India’s impact: Forced India to halt Iranian crude oil imports (2019) and repeatedly complicated investment in the strategically vital Chabahar Port project (Part 3.2), despite a partial US carve-out for Chabahar’s connectivity role to Afghanistan.
📰 Current Affairs Linkage (2025-26)
Sanctions pressure continued even before the Feb 2026 war, and has likely intensified afterward, though the conflict has shifted global attention from sanctions-based to military-based leverage over Iran.
