Aditi Bhaduri 

When the recent 12-day war between Iran and Israel took place it put India in a tight spot. While it did not out rightly condemn Israel’s attacks on Iran, it did not endorse them either. It called for an immediate halt to the violence and for both parties to return to the negotiating table.

Neither did India condemn Iran's nuclear program. India also backed the earlier statement put out by the BRICS group though it has dissociated itself from a condemnation of the strikes by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).  

The recent BRICS Declaration, emanating from the 17th BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil has strongly condemned Israel's and US military strikes on Iran. 

India's predicament lies in the fact that Iran is of great strategic significance to India. It is important for India not just because of obvious cultural and religious linkages but mostly because of connectivity, and geopolitics. Much of India's Eurasian policy, including its outreach to the South Caucuses hinges on Iran.

Eurasian Connectivity 

Iran's Chabahar Port on the country’s east coast is the nearest port for India through which it can reach Central Asia, Russia, and Europe. 

For long India has been mulling over the port’s use and development but Western sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme have come in the way.  The signing of the nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) in 2015 between Iran on one hand and the US, UK, France, Russia, China, Germany, and the European Union on the other, green-lighted India's engagement with the port.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Tehran in 2016, he earmarked $500 million for the development of the Shahid Beheshti terminal of the Chabahar port. 

Since 2018, the port’s operations have been managed by the New Delhi-backed India Ports Global Limited (IPGL). In 2024, India signed a 20-year-long agreement with Iran on the development and operations of the port. 

Chabahar is equally important for India’s trade and connectivity ambitions. In the recent past, the traditional Suez Canal route for the transportation of freight has shown its frailties. In this regard, Chabahar is easily India's closest gateway to the landlocked but resource-rich Central Asian states.

“Chabahar Port’s significance transcends its role as a mere conduit between India and Iran; it serves as a vital trade artery connecting India with Afghanistan and Central Asian Countries,” Minister Sonowal said after the signing of the agreement.

Chabahar is similarly important for the Central Asian countries for shorter and easier access to South Asia and the Middle East.  Access to the Arabian Sea will also open up Southeast Asian markets to them. That’s important given the fact that even though Central Asia is a valuable source of raw materials, energy, and minerals, trade remains low due to connectivity troubles.

This is why countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan have also become part of the Chabahar port project, and a Joint Working Group was established in 2023.

Iran is also important for India’s access to the Russian Federation in the North as well as to the South Caucasus, the Balkans, and West Europe through the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which comprises the Caspian Sea littoral states and culminates inside the Russian Federation. The INSTC is the shortest trade route between India and Russia, 30% cheaper and 40% shorter than the Suez route, significantly reducing transit time for Europe-bound shipments. 

Iran thus becomes a gateway to India's access to the Black Sea and Mediterranean ports via a route that runs through Iran, Armenia, and Georgia via the Black Sea, and can access Greek Ports.  Greece is a country that India is strengthening strategic and trade ties with.

India's South Caucasian Outreach 

The world is currently undergoing major economic and geopolitical adjustments and re-alignments. It is a time when the usual West-led world order is being seriously challenged by China and Russia, who seek to offer an alternative. Much of the Global South is caught in the middle, with many of its members rooting for a multipolar world.

In this case, Iran becomes a valuable partner for India. Lying on the west of Pakistan, India's arch-rival, Iran-Pakistan relations have always been complex and complicated. Strained relations between the two serve India's geo-strategic purpose as it allows Iran to act as a balance on Pakistan's western borders. 

Recent events, including Operation Sindoor, have now thrown up another challenge for India, where ties with Iran assume another critical significance.  Operation Sindoor has laid bare the Pakistan -Azerbaijan -Turkiye nexus against India. This has automatically translated to greater cooperation for India with Armenia - Azerbaijan's rival.

For this Iran is crucial as it borders Armenia and offers a land route to it. 

Armenia is a landlocked country sandwiched between Iran, Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Iran offers it the shortest route to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean and to India and vice versa.

Iran has already been a conduit for India's weapons exports to Armenia. Both Iran and Armenia share close and cordial relations, while Azerbaijan's relations with Iran are complicated and often strained, just as Iran-Pakistan relations are. Both Iran and India, therefore, have a common cause and a common friend in Armenia. In geostrategic terms, therefore, Iran is a crucial cog in India's South Caucasian outreach. 

A sovereign, independent Armenia is in the interest of both India and Iran. It will enable to keep trade and transit routes open for India, bypassing countries inimical to it, and as a hedge against any disruptions in trade via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

This has not been lost on policymakers in India who have initiated an India-Iran-Armenia trilateral dialogue in 2023, for this very end. The last foreign office consultations between the three countries were held in New Delhi in 2024. 

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Hence, Iran is an important geo-strategic and geo-economic partner of India. The partnership is becoming increasingly important for India, given India's emerging South Caucasian policy and its connectivity needs. India will thus have to do a tightrope walk when it comes to Iran and its rivalry with Israel, or its relations with the USA.

The author writes on Middleeast and central Asian affairs