INDIA - IRAN RELATIONS – INTERNATIONAL
News: Iran
FM scraps visit to India
What's in the news?
● A
blink-and-miss two-second shot of Iranian women cutting their hair in protest,
juxtaposed with an image of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has upset Tehran,
forcing their Foreign Minister to cancel his visit to India next month.
● Iran’s
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was due to travel to India for the
Raisina dialogue scheduled for March 3 and 4.
India-Iran Relations:
Backdrop:
● The
diplomatic links were established on 15th March 1950, when both countries
signed a Treaty of Friendship and Perpetual
Peace.
● However,
Iran’s joining of the Baghdad pact in 1954 and the Cold War politics prevented
both countries from having closer relations until the 1990s.
● Islamic
Revolution of 1979, hostage of US diplomats, Iran-Iraq War and Tehran’s support
for Hezbollah and Hamas among others resulted in a range of political and
economic sanctions, leading to Iran being isolated at a global level
● In
the 1990s, both countries’ interests converged around energy, Central Asia and
security, mostly around the Pakistan-Afghan region.
● This
resulted in the signing of ‘The Delhi
Declaration’, which provided the vision of the countries’ defence and
strategic partnership and “Tehran
Declaration”, which set forth the areas of possible cooperation.
Bilateral Relations:
1. Energy:
● India-Iran
commercial ties have traditionally been dominated by Indian import of Iranian
crude oil.
● Iran
has been one of the top sources of crude
oil for India.
● The
proposed Iran-Oman-India undersea gas pipeline can help India move towards
clean energy
2. Geo-Strategic Connectivity:
● Infrastructure
projects like Chabahar Port,
International North South Transport Corridor will help India to bypass the
overland route through Pakistan and help in better trade relations with West
and Central Asia.
● Iran-Afghan railway link:
○ India
is currently involved in constructing a 560mile long railway line linking the
Iranian port with the iron ore mines in
Hajigak in southern Afghanistan.
○ The
railway link, when completed, will potentially afford India some strategic
benefits including increasing India’s position and leverage in Afghanistan and
the central Asian region. This affords India an easier connection to
Afghanistan after avoiding Pakistani blockages.
● Land bridge to Central
Asia and Eurasia:
○ Iran
has sought to leverage its crossroad geographical location straddling the
Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, India has come to see it as its land bridge
to Central Asia and Eurasia.
● Alternative Caspian Sea
Route:
○ The
activation of an alternative Caspian Sea route speaks volumes about the
positive outlook of Iran, India and Russia on this corridor despite a variety
of geopolitical challenges.
3. Geopolitical Significance:
● Iran would act as a
gateway to Central Asia and Afghanistan.
● India
and Iran can engage each other to strengthen the demand for rule-based order in
Afghaistan.
4. Cultural Relation:
● A
MoU was signed in 2008 on holding “Days
of Culture” in two countries.
● An
Indian Cultural Centre in Tehran was
inaugurated in 2013.
● The
Cultural Centre was renamed the Swami
Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC) in 2018, and was provided a separate
premises in 2019.
5. Tackling Terrorism:
● India
and Iran both face the threat of terrorism by outfits like Al-Qaeda and Islamic
State. Hence both the countries can merge their interest to counter terrorism.
6. Industries:
● Iran
believes that India fulfills a substantial part of Iran’s needs.
● For
example, India is very capable in steel, in aluminum, in mines and metals,
railroads, software, IT, technology and so on. There is a lot of demand in
these sectors in Iran.
7. Trade Relations:
● The
bilateral trade during 2019-20 was $4.77 billion, a decrease of 71.99% as
compared to the trade of $17.03 billion 2018-19.
● India’s major exports to
Iran include rice, tea, sugar, soya,
medicines/pharmaceuticals, man-made staple fibers, electrical machinery, etc.
● Major imports from Iran
include inorganic/organic chemicals, fertilizers, cement clinkers, fruits and
nuts, leather, etc.
8. People to people contacts:
● There
is a high-level commitment in both countries to promote and facilitate people
to people contacts.
● Indian
pilgrims visit the Shia pilgrimage
circuit in Iran (Qom, Mashhad, Hamedan) and Iraq (Najaf and Karbala) every
year.
● India
over the years has emerged as one of the favourite tourist destinations for
Iranian tourists and every year around 40,000 Iranians visit India for various
purposes.
Challenges:
1. India’s relations with Saudi Arabia, US and Israel:
● Growing
Saudi-India-US-Israel relations have irked Iran.
● In
retaliation, Iran, for the first time, has linked the plight of Muslims in
Gaza, Yemen, and Bahrain, with those in Kashmir.
● New
Delhi’s decision to join the Israel-India-UAE-U.S.
group, portrayed as an “anti-Iran” coalition.
2. Iran-Pak-China ties:
● Warming
Iran-Pak-China ties have annoyed India.
3. Sluggish Chabahar port development:
● Slow
Chabahar port development has annoyed Iran.
4. China-Iran strategic partnership:
● An
economic and security partnership deal
between Iran and China was recently made public, creating a global alarm,
especially for India and the US.
● The
draft agreement involves Chinese investments worth $400 billion into the
Iranian economy over 25 years.
● Of
this, $280 billion will be allocated for the oil and gas sector and the
remaining funding will be for other core sectors like banking,
telecommunications, ports and railways.
● In
return, China would get a steady supply of Iranian oil at a heavily discounted
rate during the same period.
5. USA Sanctions on Iran:
● India
has drastically cut its Iranian engagement due to sanctions (oil import), while
Iran has looked to China for more infrastructure investment.
● Bilateral
trade dropped to just over $2 billion (2020-21) from $17 billion (2017-18).
WAY FORWARD:
1. Multilateral Engagement:
● As
India is treading a fine line in balancing relations with the US, China and
Iran while striving to augment its political influence in West Asia, embracing
one country over the other is not an option for India.
2. Chabahar Port:
● India
must retain its involvement in the Chabahar port development because of the
geostrategic significance.
● In
the immediate term, India should improve its multi-alignment credentials to absorb investments into the port
projects from the public and private sector, boost maritime cooperation among
littoral countries to enhance the transit of goods, and foster regional
partnership for the Chabahar port development.
3. Converging with other nations:
● Based
on the mutual geostrategic and energy interests, India could collaborate with Japan under the
Asia-Africa Growth Corridor.
● Japan’s
participation would enhance the multilateral characteristics of the transit hub
in the region, unlike the China-owned Gwadar port. This will further enhance
multilateral investments to solidify regional economic partnerships that enable
the sustainability of the port.
India
and Iran need to rebuild their ties
affected adversely by recent global events. India must try to remain
politically engaged with Iran for a better appreciation of each other’s
sensitivities and compulsions and mutual interests.