New Delhi’s studied silence on the increasingly violent protests in Iran, which claimed at least 21 lives over the past week, reflects its usual reluctance to comment on what it sees as the internal affairs of another nation, unless it impinges directly on Indian interests. The protests, sparked by a price hike in Mashhad, the theocratic state’s second most populous city, have turned into a growing revolt against the economic woes plaguing the oil- and gas-rich nation.
They also exposed differences between President Hassan Rouhani, seen as a moderate reformist who believes the protesters have legitimate issues, and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who condemned the protests and suggested they were started by “enemies” of the Islamic Republic. US President Donald Trump’s January 2 tweet which said “The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime” strengthened this accusation.
“All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism,” said Trump, who has repeatedly criticised the regime as a terror supporter and threatened to scuttle the nuclear deal signed by his predecessor. “The US is watching!” he warned. Iran’s foreign ministry responded by saying that Trump should focus on “homeless and hungry people” in his own country instead of insulting Iranians. Russia weighed in, warning “external interference destabilising the situation is inadmissible.”
While officially silent, the foreign policy mandarins in New Delhi are watching the events in Iran with interest. During his maiden visit to Iran in May 2016, Indian PM Narendra Modi and President Rouhani had pledged to combat terror together and inked a dozen agreements, including a contract to develop the strategic Chabahar port and a railway line to give India economic access to Afghanistan and then northwards into resource-rich Central Asia and Russia. Any political turmoil in Iran at this point which disrupts these projects is obviously not in India’s interests.