India-Iran relations have just not been able to take a turn for the better. Tentative reaching outs after the disastrous Indian vote against Iran at the IAEA in 2005 have not been able to re-build bilateral ties between the two governments. A firm indication that matters were reaching a point of no return came when Iran decided to go ahead with the gas pipeline without India, and signed an agreement with Pakistan. It was said then that New Delhi could enter the agreement at any point, but Iran also made it clear that China too would be accommodated if it showed interest. Foreign minister Manoucher Mottaki was scheduled to meet Indian external affairs minister S M Krishna on the sidelines of the SAARC summit at Thimphu. The meeting did not take place as Mottaki’s plane was late and the Indians cancelled the meeting claiming paucity of time. Iran, already smarting under the UPA government’s decision to send a junior official for its nuclear summit, has decided to blow cold as well in a relationship that seems unable to come out of the curve.
Krishna felt the freeze at Tehran recently while attending the G15 summit. Iranian hospitality while warm, did not provide the extra space he was hoping for and the meeting with Mottaki was little more than a formality. The Iranians did not discuss anything of substance, and it was made clear to New Delhi that two could play the game. In the meantime, all channels are being opened between Tehran and Beijing, the latest being a huge oil contract that should make any country envious. Relations between China and Iran are strengthening at a rapid pace and Iranian officials do not rule out the possibility of these ties turning into strategic ties in the near future. India, over-eager to please the Americans, is being left out of the regional equations and might find this very costly. More so in Afghanistan, where it is being isolated by Pakistan and the US, and could have made common cause with Iran in building regional pressure for a just and equitable solution to the crisis. Instead the space has been left for Pakistan and the US, with President Barack Obama making it very clear that the solution he has in mind is ‘trilateral’ and India has no place in it. There is still a window of opportunity for India to re-build relations with Iran. That is today, for tomorrow will be too late.
