Iran minister in Delhi for talks to boost ties, trade via Chabahar

Context: Iran’s deputy Foreign Minister has reached New Delhi for talks Friday
with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
Iran is looking at increasing bilateral trade with India, including via the
Chabahar port. From tourism to agriculture, Tehran wants to boost ties wit
Delhi and bilateral talks will take place before the Trump administration takes
charge on January 20. According to sources Iran would also like to get a sense
from Indian officials on dealing with sanctions as India has stopped buying oil
from Iran due to the threat of sanctions but has continued to buy oil from
Russia despite sanctions.

Key points

·       Overview: Iranian Foreign
Minister’s first visit to India this week has many implications for bilateral
relations.

·       Significance
of the visit: Hate speech - The visit was an opportunity
for New Delhi to project that it has successfully assuaged the Islamic world
with the actions taken against the spokespersons of the ruling party.

IAEA meet - It also
coincides with the meeting of the Board of Governors of the IAEA in Vienna,
which has passed strictures against Iran for its nuclear programme.

India’s support
-
For Iran, the visit would be portrayed as a show of support from a powerful
country.

Taliban issue - In addition,
Iran and India discussed the situation in Afghanistan under the Taliban, just
days after an Indian envoy made the first outreach to Kabul.

Chabahar port - India and Iran
have discussed further operationalising the Chabahar port, where goods to
Afghanistan were sent before the government in Kabul fell last year.

Russian war in
Ukraine - Against the backdrop of the Russian war in Ukraine and western
sanctions, Iran has been keen to convince New Delhi to restore its crude oil
purchases, which it cancelled in 2019, after threats of U.S. sanctions.

·       India-Iran
relation: Political relation - India and Iran shared a border till 1947 and
share several common features in their language, culture and traditions.

Economic
relation - India-Iran economic and commercial ties have traditionally been buoyed
by Indian import of Iranian crude oil.

Cultural
relation - A MoU was signed in 2008 on holding of “Days of Culture” in two
countries.

·       Issues
hampering the relations: Comments on Prophet - The comments made in
India on the Prophet was criticised by the 57-member Organisation for Islamic
Cooperation (OIC). The controversy has overshadowed India’s other diplomatic
engagements.

Delhi Summit - Also, the
promises of India and Iran in the last summit in Delhi left unrealised.

Sanctions - Instead of
increasing Indian oil imports, building up the Chabahar rail project and
scaling up trade, India has drastically cut its Iranian engagement due to
sanctions, while Iran has looked to China for more infrastructure investment.

Bilateral trade
-
Bilateral trade dropped to just over $2 billion (2020-21) from $17 billion
(2017-18).

India-Israel
ties - Ties appeared to have been hit by New Delhi’s decision to join the
Israel-India-UAE-U.S. group, portrayed as an “anti-Iran” coalition.