Iran-India ties poised for takeoff
Iran, India and Afghanistan may finally sign a much-delayed transit agreement, throwing open the doors for greater engagement between New Delhi and Tehran.
Almost a decade after Iran, India and Afghanistan agreed to develop a transit route connecting Afghanistan to Iran’s newly developing Chabahar port, the project is finally set to take off. The Afghans recently announced that the draft of the memorandum of understanding for road transit of commodities had been finalized and ready to be endorsed by all countries, perhaps as early as next month.
This development provides fresh impetus to Iran and India's bilateral relationship, which had lost considerable steam since 2005. Among other factors, economic constraints resulted from the sanctions imposed on Iran and India’s own policy realignment after its rapprochement with the United States.
Iran has long promoted guaranteed land and sea access to Afghanistan, Central Asia and beyond to the Indians, who are very keen on an alternate trade route to the region, since transit through Pakistan has not been an option. Yet, another strategic piece is the International North-South Trade Corridor promoted by India, Iran, Oman and Russia to connect freight from the Indian Ocean to Europe and Russia via Iran, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
India thus finds great economic and strategic value in the port of Chabahar. Located on the Makran coast in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, it is not only Iran’s first deep-water port but also its only port directly facing the Indian Ocean. Chabahar is located just 72 kilometers (44 miles) west of Pakistan’s deep-water port of Gwadar, built with Chinese assistance.
