Indications of India-Iran relations restoring normalcy following India-Iran-Uzbekistan tripartite meeting

New Delhi: – A secretary-level meeting was held between India, Iran and Uzbekistan for using the Chabahar Port for goods transport between India and Uzbekistan on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a telephonic discussion on 11th of December. After that, within a few days, these tripartite talks between India-Iran-Uzbekistan were held. This will provide an impetus to the India-Uzbekistan trade. At the same time, clear indications of the India-Iran relations restoring normalcy are coming from the meeting and analysts claim that this is an excellent sign for both the countries.

US President Donald Trump has imposed tough sanctions against Iran. This created major problems for all the countries which were purchasing oil from Iran. Following the sanctions, even India stopped buying oil from Iran. Iran reacted intensely to this, saying that it is regrettable that a country like India is succumbing to US pressure. Reports of India being excluded from the Chabahar port project also had been received. While the tension between Iran and the United States, along with Israel was increasing, China announced an investment of USD 400 billion into Iran. Some people started claiming that this will end the Indian influence in Iran, and China, as well as Pakistan, will be able to use Iran against India. But even in this scenario, India continued with its efforts to improve relations with Iran. In September, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Russia for the SCO meeting. While returning from Russia, he paid a visit to Iran. Talks were on that with this gesture, India underlined the Iranian importance in its foreign policy.

It is now clear that Joe Biden will be taking over the reins of the United States soon. During his election campaign, he had announced that if he became the President, he would once again sign the nuclear deal with Iran. This could prove beneficial for India-Iran relations. Against this background, indications are being received that India will start purchasing oil from Iran once again. Analysts claimed that more importantly, there is no question of India being expelled from the Chabahar port project. The Chinese investment of USD 400 billion also will not affect Iranian relations with India as this Chinese investment is spread over 25 years. Iran is fully aware that it cannot plan its foreign strategy with complete dependence on China. Therefore, analysts have inferred that Iran will never put the relations with a traditional ally like India on the block, and instead use these relations to balance the foreign policy. Therefore, analysts believe that the India-Iran cooperation will increase in the future, and both the countries will take expeditious steps to recover the losses incurred during the Trump tenure.

The Indian fuel security will get a fillip once the oil supply from Iran is secured. At the same time, the Iranian markets will once again open for the Indian products and Indian trade with Afghanistan, and Central Asian countries will start through the Chabahar port. The Indian economy will immensely benefit from this. Therefore, India-Iran relations are significant and now that they are restoring normalcy, becomes a very positive development for India.