India and Iran foreign ministers meet in Tehran
India’s ties with Iran have been under strain since India officially stopped all oil purchases from Iran in early 2019, under the pressure of renewed US sanctions on Iran.
By IAR Desk
September 8, 2020: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had a stopover in Iran today, on his way to a four-day visit to Russia. In Russia he will have a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, according to media reports. Jaishankar is visiting Moscow to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) of which both India and China are members.
In Teheran, the External Affairs Minister held a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
“A productive meeting with FM @JZarif during a stopover in Tehran. Discussed strengthening our bilateral cooperation and reviewed regional developments. Thank him for his gracious hospitality, the minister tweeted after the meeting,” the minister wrote on his Twitter account.
Jaishankar’s trip to Moscow comes days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the Russian capital to attend a meeting of SCO defence ministers.
On his way back to India Mr. Singh had also stopped over in Tehran and met with his Iranian counterpart Brigadier General Amir Hatami. The two ministers held discussions on a range of regional issues but the focus was on Afghanistan and on bilateral cooperation.
“Had a very fruitful meeting with Iranian defence minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami in Tehran. We discussed regional security issues including Afghanistan and the issues of bilateral cooperation,” the minister had written on Twitter after his Tehran stop over.
India’s ties with Iran have been under strain since India officially stopped all oil purchases from Iran in early 2019, under the pressure of renewed US sanctions on Iran.
Sanctions have also meant that in spite of earmarking funds for the development of Iran’s Chabahar port, under a bilateral agreement, India has been dragging it’s foot. More recently Iran announced that it would invite the Chinese to participate in the Chabahar port and had also announced that it was going ahead with the construction of the Chabahar Zahedan railway project on its own. India had evinced an interest in cooperating in the railway project.
In July Iran and China announced an agreement for a $400 billion trade and Investment deal even as India has been embroiled in a military confrontation with China on it’s eastern borders since April/May of this year.
The Chabahar port was being developed primarily to give India and Afghanistan access to each other while bypassing Pakistan. Such trade, it was felt, would go a long way in helping the Afghan economy which in turn would help stabilize the war ravaged country. To that end, it had been exempted from US sanctions and has already been operationalized.
Jaishankar and Iranian foreign minister Javad Zareef held discussions on bilateral and regional issues, including trade and business.
After the meeting with Jaishankar the Iranian foreign minister tweeted “Pleased to host my Indian counterpart @DrSJaishankar in Tehran for talks today. Discussed expansion of bilateral relations and trade, and exchanged views on important regional issues. Our active engagement with our neighborhood is our top priority.”
Relations with Iran will assume even greater significance for India as the Americans withdraw from Afghanistan under the US-Taliban peace agreement signed in February this year. intra-Afghan talks are scheduled to be held in the next few days in Qatar. A future Afghan government is expected to pave the way for the Taliban to dominate it.
