External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the Chabahar Port in Iran would benefit the entire region and that a “narrow view” should not be taken of it, reported ANI.

Jaishankar was responding to a warning by the United States about the potential risk of sanctions after New Delhi and Tehran on Monday signed a 10-year contract to develop and operate a terminal at the Chabahar port.

The foreign minister said that the United States itself had previously acknowledged the importance of Chabahar.

“I did see some of the remarks which were made, but I think it's a question of communicating, convincing and getting people to understand, that this is actually for everyone's benefit,” Jaishankar said at an event in Kolkata. “I don't think people should take a narrow view of it.”

On Monday, India Ports Global Limited and Iran’s Port and Maritime Organisation signed a long-term bilateral contract. The deal enables India to operate the Shahid Beheshti terminal at the Chabahar Port in Iran for 10 years.

Hours after the agreement was signed, Vedant Patel, the US department of state’s deputy spokesperson, said that Washington was aware of the development. He, however, added that “any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk that they are opening themselves up to and the potential risk of sanctions.”

Washington has imposed sanctions on Tehran in recent months in view of its drone and missile programmes and financing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

India had signed the highly anticipated deal on the Chabahar port, which lies in a free trade zone, in May 2016. The railway project was between the Iranian Railways and the state-owned Indian Railways Construction Limited. It was meant to be part of India’s commitment to the trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan to build an alternate trade route to Afghanistan and Central Asia.