New Delhi: Tensions in Iran-US conflict has reached its maximum after US drone strike killed Iran's Major General Qassem Soleimani, head of Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Friday. The incident has triggered tensions for the world community including India.
India shares a good bond with both nations. While it's historical relations with Tehran have descended to the lowest last year after it completely stopped importing oil from it which used to fulfil 10% of its energy requirement, complying to the US sanction waivers which expired in May 2019.
Despite this, New Delhi has been trying hard to keep its regional interest with Tehran protected.
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, after taking charge, met his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif thrice in the course of six months.
Recently, he also undertook his first visit to Iran as the External Affairs Minister following his endeavours in the Washington where he got narrow exemptions for India backed Chahbahar project.
During his Tehran visit, both countries decided to take forward their ambitious project further.
Soleimani's death in an American drone strike might make it more difficult for New Delhi to take its already snailed paced Chahbahar project at an accelerating rate.
Sharing his views on the entire Iran-US conflict and its implications on India, former envoy KP Fabian, who had served as the first secretary in Iran from 1976-79, slammed MEA for not handling the entire situation with diplomatic maturity back then.
Read: Soleimani responsible for terrorist plots in New Delhi: Trump
He claimed that rather than complying to the US sanction waivers completely, India could have tackled the situation in a different manner.
"When President Trump imposed sanctions on Iran, India meekly complied. India did not tell President Trump that we are good friends. We do a lot of business including buying arms from you but please understand Iran is very important for us. Some of our oil refineries are tuned to buying oil from Iran. And, we stop then you reimburse the cost to us," said former envoy KP Fabian.
He even claimed that when he spoke to his friends in the government and MEA regarding this, they were not ready to even think of saying no to the USA.
He asserted this is not the attitude of the country who wants to become a great power one day.
India-US relation has reached tremendous heights in recent years. The US is India's second-biggest trading partner after China. India's export to the US stood $52.4 billion in 2018-19 while imports were $35.5 billion.
The US is an important ally for India against its diplomatic slugfest against Pakistan. India has continued to keep Islamabad under bay in its fight against terrorism. Being the biggest hegemonic power in the world which obviously dominates all major world institutions, New Delhi had achieved some major domestic political feats in 2019.
After the abrogation of Article 370, US administration extended complete support to India by calling it an internal matter of New Delhi.
Despite Pakistan's rigorous attempts to internationalise the Kashmir, India has been able to keep its detractors away.
But could India have done things differently with Iran? As Iran and specifically Chahbahar proved a gateway for it to Afghanistan and the rest of central Asia.
Also Read: India has reached out to countries across the world on CAA, NRC: MEA
