Chabahar

The name Chabahar is a shortened form of the Persian phrase (), where means "four" and means "spring". Hence, Chabahar means a place where all four seasons of the year resemble spring time. == History ==

There is a fishing village and former port named Tis in Chabahar's neighborhood, which dates from 2500 BC, known in Alexander the Great's conquests as Tiz, eventually renamed Tis. In addition, in his book Aqd al-Ala lel-Moghefe al Ahla, Afdhal al-Din abu Hamid Kermani wrote in 584 AH (1188 CE) about the port of Tiz and its commerce and trade. According to the scholar and historian, Alberuni, author of an encyclopedic work on India called "Tarikh Al-Hind", the sea coast of India commences with Tiz or modern Chabahar. Tis was formerly an active commercial port, and was destroyed by the Mongols. There are still some ruins in the village. The Portuguese were the first European colonial country to attack the Makran (Oman) Sea. The Portuguese forces under Afonso de Albuquerque gained control of Chabahar and Tis (1616 CE or 1026 AH), staying there until 1031 AH (1621 CE). The English later entered the region. Modern Chabahar dates back to around 1970 CE, when it was declared a municipality and large port projects were started by order of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. A modern naval and air base was established as part of the Shah's policy of making Iran into a dominant power in the Indian Ocean. At that time these and other development projects in and around Chabahar involved the extensive participation of foreign companies, especially from the United States. After the 1979 CE revolution the foreign companies left the projects and Iranian public companies linked to the Ministry of Jahad-e Sazandegi (or jihad for construction) took them over. The Iran–Iraq War caused Chabahar to gain in logistical and strategic importance. War brought insecurity to the Strait of Hormuz and ships were unable to enter the Persian Gulf. Accordingly, Chabahar became a major port during the war. In the 1980s the Iranian government developed a new scheme named the Eastern Axis Development Scheme, which aimed to use Chabahar's geographical position as a regional development tool to stimulate economic growth in the eastern provinces. The establishment of the Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone in 1992 resulting from the EAD Scheme brought development and encouraged immigration from other parts of the country to Chabahar. On 25 February 2025, clashes between the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group have taken place in Chabahar. At least one civilian, a 5-year-old child, has died. Two more Jaish al-Adl combatants have also died. Days earlier, Jaish al-Adl bombed an Iranian government building. On 7 April 2026, explosions were heard at three sites in the city: the Shahid Kalantari port, the Tis port, and the Imam Ali base. == Population ==

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 71,070 in 13,837 households. The following census in 2011 counted 85,633 people in 19,313 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 106,739 people in 25,896 households. == Economy ==

Chabahar Free Trade Zone Chabahar is Iran's closest and best access point to the Indian Ocean. For this reason, Chabahar is the focal point of Iranian development of the east of the country through expansion and enhancement of transit routes among countries situated in the northern part of the Indian Ocean and Central Asia. The hope is that with the development of transit routes, and better security and transit services, the benefits will reach the local residents. Chabahar's economic sectors are fish industries and commercial sector, fishery sectors with the largest amount of country's fish catch, mainly located out of the Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone. Growing commercial sector located at free trade area with high potentiality to turn to a place that would connect business growth centers in south Asia (India) and Middle East (Dubai) to central Asian market. The government plans to link the Chabahar free trade area to Iran's main rail network, which is connected to Central Asia. The city is served by Refah Chain Stores Co., Iran Hyper Star, Isfahan City Center, Shahrvand Chain Stores Inc., Ofoq Kourosh chain store. == Transportation ==

Chabahar is connected to multimodal transportation through air, sea and roads. Its Konarak Airport has twice daily flights to the capital Tehran, thrice weekly flights to Zahedan and twice weekly flights to Mashhad, Shiraz and Bandar Abbas. It has also a weekly international flight to Doha and Dubai and a biweekly flight to Muscat. Chabahar has two jetties that connect it to international waterways. Iranian contractors are developing both jetties to provide port facilities for handling of 6 million tons of goods a year; this is expected to be completed by 2011. Chabahar is connected to national road networks. Chabahar–Bandar Abbas, Chabahar–Iranshahr–Kerman, Chabahar–Iranshahr–Zahedan–Mashahd and Chabahar–Iranshahr–Zahedan–Milak are four main routes connecting Chabahar to national and international roads. In July 2016, India began shipping US$150 million worth of rail tracks to Chabahar to build US$1.6 billion Chabahar–Zahedan railway by India's Ircon International, for which India pledged additional US$400 million and Iran has also allocated US$125 million in December 2016, thus taking the total allocation to US$575 million (out of US$1.6 billion needed) till the end of 2016. Port India is helping develop the Chabahar Port, which will give it access to the oil and gas resources in Iran and the Central Asian states. By doing so, India hopes to compete with the Chinese, who are building Gwadar Port on the other side of the border in Pakistan's Balochistan Province. In 2014, Indian government sanctioned an initial amount US$85 million for the development of Chabahar port. By 2016, as sanctions against Iran were being lifted after the nuclear deal, Indian investment plans had risen to US$500 million. In turn, Iran will get its first deepwater port, to allow it to conduct global trade with big cargo ships rather than the small ships its ports can currently handle, thus putting an end to its reliance on the United Arab Emirates as a shipping intermediary. == Geography ==

Location The city is on the Makran Coast of the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and is officially designated as a "Free Trade and Industrial Zone" by the Iranian government. Due to its free-trade zone status, the city has increased in significance in international trade. Climate The county of Chabahar has hot, humid weather in the summer and warm weather in the winter, giving it a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). The western winds in the winter bring about scattered rainfalls in this region, and very occasionally winds from the Indian monsoon affect the region, as in July 1976 when fell. In most years around will fall; however a positive Indian Ocean Dipole in 1997/1998 led to a record total of ; in contrast between July 2000 and June 2002 only fell in two years. The summer monsoon winds from the Indian subcontinent make Chabahar the coolest southern port in the summer and the warmest port of Iran in the winter. It has an average maximum temperature of 34 °C and an average minimum temperature of 21.5 °C. It has the same latitude as Miami in Florida, United States, and temperatures are very similar to those in Miami. {{Weather box == Tourism ==

A $500 million resort is planned to be built in Chabahar. == Gallery ==

File:000401-IMG E7394-2.jpg|Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:000401-IMG E7382-2.jpg|Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:000320-IMG 0095.jpg|Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:000320-IMG 0092-FerdowsHotel.jpg|Ferdows Hotel, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:000320-IMG 0088-CFZ.jpg|The statue of Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:000113-Beris-Pan1-2.jpg|Beris port, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:Porota making 20210602.jpg File:000208-BeachWithArya-IMG E3625-2.jpg File:Chabahar, Iran 2021.jpg|Elevated cliff beaches in suburbs of Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:Lipar Pink Wetland, Chabahar, Iran.jpg|The Lipar Pink Wetland, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:991102-Pozm-IMG E2962.jpg|Pozm Beach, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:991119-Phytoplankton-IMG 6606.jpg|Planktons, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:Luminescent beaches in Chabahar3.jpg|Planktons, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 6071-2.jpg|Comb beach, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 6057-2.jpg|Comb beach, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 6050-2.jpg|Sany beaches of Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 6039-2.jpg|Elevated cliff beaches of Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 6020-2.jpg|Marine Chiton, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 6034-2.jpg|Jelly fishes, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 6019-2.jpg|Marine chitons, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 6013-2.jpg|Rocky Beach, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 6006-2.jpg|Rocky Beach, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 5988-2.jpg|Darya Koochak, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:990804-Chabahar-IMG 5997-2.jpg|Rocky Beach, Chabahar Free Zone, Iran File:Chabahar-Post-Office.jpg File:Post-Office.jpg == See also ==