War clouds over a trade route: No relief in sight

Prospects have dimmed for the proposed IMEC path to Europe via sea to West Asia and then overland to Israel. As the US glares at Iran, India is in the same boat as China on this project

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The education of some Indian students studying medicine in Iran, safety of ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz and moderation in oil prices have all been collateral damage as war clouds worsen over West Asia. A big if silent casualty has been the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) that was announced at the New Delhi summit of the G20 in 2023.

Ships would leave India's west coast, land at one of the UAE's three ports, offload their cargo onto rail tracks to be laid through Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Israel, where the Haifa port (under Adani Group control) would serve as the final node for sea despatches to Piraeus in Greece, Trieste in Italy or Marseilles in France to serve the EU market.

The project hinged on Saudi Arabia and Israel inking an 'Abraham Accord' to normalize ties, like the deals US President Donald Trump had brokered in 2020 between Tel Aviv and the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. Riyadh signing up had been Trump's aim.