During the 19th India-Iran Foreign Office Consultations held in New Delhi on Friday, Dr. Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, tabled Chabahar Port, agricultural cooperation, trade and economic issues in discussion with India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
The two sides raised the issue of Afghanistan and emphasized the importance of Chabahar Port in facilitating Afghanistan’s economic development and regional connectivity, underlining that this project is a cornerstone of India’s engagement with the region. The port is exempt from U.S. sanctions due to its importance of sending humanitarian aids to Afghanistan, and India has made significant investments in its development.
In a broader context, the discussions between India and Iran come at a time when West Asia’s geopolitics is going through significant shifts, with the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad and President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming presidency. While these regional developments continue to remain unpredictable, both India and Iran agreed that their growing partnership should not be swayed by external pressures.
According to the sources in New Delhi, the visiting deputy foreign minister of the sanction-rigged country, highlighted energy cooperation as a key area of focus in the evolving relationship between the two countries.
During the visit, Dr. Majid Takht-Ravanchi, reiterated Iran’s interest in renewing crude oil exports to India, a long-time partner in the energy sector. Despite the U.S. sanctions that were imposed in 2018, forcing India to halt its oil imports from Iran, Tehran is keen to find ways to bypass these sanctions and restore the trade. India’s refineries, known for their capacity to process Iranian crude, are seen as pivotal in Iran’s hopes to resume oil exports to the region. India has maintained a cautious but steady relationship with Iran in sectors such as energy and infrastructure.
An Indian diplomat in India’s Ministry of External Affairs stated that India faces challenges in importing oil from Iran, unlike Russia.
Randhir Jaiswal, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, in a conversation with Khamma on Friday in New Delhi, confirmed that cultural engagement and people-to-people ties were also part of the discussions, signaling an ongoing push to deepen the cultural exchanges between Tehran and New Delhi. New Delhi, which has made Persian one of the nine classical languages, has expressed its readiness to extend its cultural ties with Iran further.
While in New Delhi, Dr. Takht-Ravanchi met with India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar, where the two leaders agreed to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges. The meeting marked a positive step toward further strengthening cooperation, particularly in the energy sector, where both sides are determined to overcome the hurdles posed by sanctions and external pressures.
In a separate development on Friday, Esmail Baqaei, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, urged Afghanistan’s cooperation in “maintaining the natural flow of water” in shared border rivers.
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