TEHRAN — Iran and India signed a joint statement of cooperation on Monday covering multiple areas, including trade and transport, as Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval sat down with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Shamkhani, in Tehran.
Shamkhani requested that a rial-rupee mechanism be activated in trade ties between the two countries, according to a report by Nour News, the official outlet of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Such mechanisms, the Iranian security chief said, will play a "pivotal role" in bilateral trade.
Iran and India have historically maintained overall friendly ties and relatively stable economic interactions. Yet India's uncertainties and concerns arising from potential US punitive measures have frequently gotten in the way. Once a leading customer of Iranian oil, New Delhi has refrained from such purchases since 2019 — one year after Washington reinstated crippling sanctions on Tehran by withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal.
Following the joint statement, India's ABP Live TV also reported that Tehran has requested that India resume Iranian crude purchases in the very pattern it is currently using for oil from Russia, which is under similar US sanctions.
