India Mustn't Bend To US Pressure on Iran

By toeing the US line, New Delhi has squandered major opportunities after making diplomatic and financial investments in Iran.

- SANJAY KAPOOR

Two days after mysterious drones and missiles, evading Saudi Arabia’s expensive Patriot missile system, blasted state owned Aramco’s refinery in Abqaiq and the oilfield of Khurais, India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale was sitting with Iranian officials in Tehran to discuss ways to improve bilateral ties in the area of energy, connectivity and trade in an era of US sanctions against Tehran.

The attack on Abqaiq that spiked oil prices and exposed the vulnerability of Saudi’s promise of uninterrupted oil supplies to its Asian customers allowed Tehran to remind New Delhi that it could restore its supplies whenever it was ready. Iran was one of the biggest suppliers of oil to India before US sanctions brought it to zero earlier in May this year. Iran supplies oil to China, Russia and countries that do not countenance bilateral sanctions. Initially, India had announced that it did not recognise US sanctions, but later succumbed to the pressure.

Though planned earlier, the fact that this meeting between India and Iran was not cancelled after the “game changing” attack on the Saudi Arabian refinery suggests that the Indian government, little by little, is realising how its pusillanimous conduct towards US sanctions has contributed to it squandering major opportunities after making diplomatic and financial investments in Iran. Tehran that was keen to have Indian investments in energy sector and connectivity projects has now given the first right of refusal to China after it inked a gargantuan $250 billion deal with them.