What is the context? When Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad, and in retaliation, Iran missile attac...
What is the context?
When Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad, and in retaliation, Iran missile attacked the Iraqi bases hosted by US military, this led to an escalation in hostilities between Iran and the US with a possible full-blown military conflict
How does this impact India?
- India, whose economy is in an extremely precarious position, is heavily dependent(90%) on Iran’s oil supplies to power its growth
- Possible high oil prices will lead to inflation in India
- The Chabahar port project in Iran’s southeastern coast is a strategic dimension.
- The conflict would put 8 million Indians living and working in West Asiathem all in danger
- Endanger the $40 billion in remittances India receives from West Asia (foreign exchange)
Since India’s traditional ties with the US have developed strongly from economy to defense. It was evident that India would be expected to have a zero-sum relationship with Iran
What is India’s stand?
India’s foreign policy i.e., balancing act of diplomacy is built around the concept of ‘strategic autonomy & not based on the historical posture of ‘non-alignment’. In fact, it’s aligned on an issue-based approach, instead of ideological ones.
- It stated that it adheres only to UN sanctions and not to unilateral sanctions by a foreign country but was less explicit in expressing its discontent regarding the US policy towards Iran
- India keyed White House to let them understand that zero-sum relationship with Iran is not possible, however, to pacify the US it pushed out its Chabahar investments via the periscope of Afghanistan’s interests which certainly affected India’s relations with Iran
- The US had given India ‘written’ assurance for banks to be able to facilitate $85 million worth of equipment purchase for Chabahar despite the severity of sanctions against Iran
Now, India is trying to balance its interests factoring in commitment to the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) & whether to increase its bullish US relations under Trump by willing to leverage and weaponize issue such as trade
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