Round The World
New Delhi, 1 May 2008
India-Iran
Ties
us watches
Ahmadinejad Visit
By Dr.
Monika Chansoria
(School
of International Studies,
JNU)
Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s brief ‘working visit’ to New
Delhi as part of his South Asia
tour last month, was expectedly aimed at intensifying ties between the two
countries. Deliberations in numerous key sectors ranging from energy, the
Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, talks on two multi-billion dollar
energy deals and bilateral investments were on agenda.
However, the visit was shrouded with controversy even before
Ahmadinejad’s arrival in New Delhi.
The United States, which is
keeping a close tab on the Iranian President’s movement in South Asia, appeared
to be at unease with India-Iran ties as clearly reflected in the statement issued
by the US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey: “New
Delhi should urge Iran
to curtail its nuclear programme and to cease enriching uranium. India should also put pressure on Iran to become a more responsible actor on the
world stage and ask Iran to
end its rather unhelpful activities with respect to Iraq.” Casey was obviously pointing
towards Tehran’s support for promoting terrorism
in Iraq.
The American statement didn’t go down too well with the Ministry
of External Affairs. In its statement, New Delhi
sought to rebuke Washington by stressing, “India and Iran are ancient civilizations
whose relations span centuries. Both nations are perfectly capable of managing
all aspects of their relationship with the appropriate degree of care and
attention and neither country needs any guidance on the future conduct of
bilateral relations.” Obviously, indicating that Ahmadinejad’s trip had triggered
diplomatic barbs between New Delhi and Washington.
Further, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee appeared to
placate Iran by suggesting
to the US that New Delhi has always
pursued an independent foreign policy. At the same time, not wanting the
statement to be a subject of annoyance with the Americans, Mukherjee said: “We
are advising Iran
that since it is a signatory of NPT, it has some obligation to international
treaties. We tell the US, do
not take on yourself the responsibility whether Iran was manufacturing weapons or
not.”
Ahmadinejad’s visit came at an opportune time for both
nations, since the past months were not exactly downy vis-à-vis bilateral ties
between Tehran and New Delhi. The former was apparently incensed
by India’s
vote against it at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). As a matter
of fact, India cast its vote
in 2005 in favour of a resolution finding Iran
in ‘non-compliance’ with its safeguards’ obligations under the NPT and
expressing ‘the absence of confidence that Iran’s nuclear programme is
entirely for peaceful purposes.’ Such statements indeed make it amply clear the
American pressure on India to
go against Iran
was critical.
Moreover, the findings are under Articles XII and III, of
the IAEA Statute, both of which mandate referral of the matter to the Security
Council and hold out a thinly veiled threat of sanctions and other punitive
measures. Reacting sharply to New Delhi’s vote, Tehran had threatened to reconsider its economic
cooperation with India
in September 2005. Ahmadinejad’s visit, however, was viewed as an opportunity
to iron out these differences with Iran.
India has ever-mounting demands for
energy. It imports over 70 per cent of its energy needs and desperately
searches for energy partners to secure new supplies of oil and gas from abroad,
other than revamping up domestic production to sustain its blooming economic
growth. New Delhi deems Tehran,
which has the world’s second largest known oil and gas reserves after Russia, to be a
long-term energy partner.
Furthermore, New
Delhi intends to revive a 2005 agreement that never
got implemented thanks to the rising price of oil dramatically soon after. This
agreement aims at importing 5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
from Iran.
President Ahmadinejad’s visit might act as a catalyst in enhancing ties between
the two nations particularly in the energy sector.
The Iranian President’s visit could well have boosted Indian
state-owned ONGC’s chances of buying an equity stake in phase 12 of South Pars
block in Iran.
Apparently, Tehran has set a June 2008 deadline
for Total Company of France and Royal Dutch Shell to finalize a deal to develop
phase 11 and 13 of the South Pars or it would consider allocating the blocks to
other firms. In case of a failure of meeting the deadline by the
above-mentioned companies, India
holds a chance to grab the opportunity to develop phase 11 and 13 of the South
Pars block among other Asian companies that might be in consideration as well.
Another prominent issue that came up at talks was the
Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. The $7.6 billion project that would
eventually supply gas to India
via Pakistan
through a 1,615-mile pipeline was dubbed as the ‘Pipeline for Peace and
Progress.’ However, the project is unable to get past the jinx since it began
in 1994. The plan has been stalled by disagreements over pricing and transit
fees in addition to the incessant political discord between India and Pakistan.
New Delhi has been boycotting trilateral
meetings on the Iran pipeline
since mid-2007, citing that it wanted to first resolve the issues of transit
fees and transportation tariffs with Pakistan. The proposed pipeline
would initially carry 60 million cubic meters of gas daily to Pakistan and India, half for each country. The
capacity would, at a later date be raised to 150 million cubic meters.
It is, however, said that India
and Pakistan are expected to
be just ‘days or weeks away’ from finalizing terms for the cross-border
pipeline to import gas from Iran
following talks in Islamabad
on April 25. Following discussion on transportation tariff and transit fees,
both Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and his Pakistani counterpart Khawaja
Muhammad Asif told a joint press conference that: “We have agreed upon the
fundamentals of the agreement. The whole process should not take a long time,
may be few days or few weeks and the agreement will be concluded.” It appears
that, the meeting was well-timed as both nations realized that pipeline
diplomacy would likely be a core feature of the Iranian President’s visit.
Even though India
would ideally not want another nuclear entity in the neighbourhood, it is
likely to restate that Iran
has the right to peaceful use of civilian nuclear energy. Clearly, in its
dealings with Tehran, India is walking a tight rope since
it tackles the conflicting imperatives of domestic politics with its strategic
interests skillfully matching them.
Understandably, India
appears to be in a quandary over the US-Iran conflict where spiraling Indo-US
ties make it imperative for New Delhi to balance
its relations with Washington and a galloping
economy pushing it to forge collaboration with Tehran. Notwithstanding the growing American
pressure, particularly after the signing of the India-US civilian nuclear energy
cooperation agreement, brawny domestic constraints still loom large and prevent
India
from completely abandoning its ties with Iran.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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