Accusing the U.S. of trying to ensure that India reduced oil imports from his country, Iranian Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari said that even so, U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy shift would not affect the India-Iran relationship, and the development of the Chabahar port project remained on track.
“The U.S. wants to deprive Iran of the Indian energy market and is working to ensure that India reduce its oil trade with Iran,” Mr. Ansari told The Hindu in an exclusive interview days after the U.S. announcement of a tougher line on Iran, even imposition of possibly new sanctions.
No immediate impact
“I don’t think the U.S.’s statement [on Iran] will have any immediate impact on the India-Iran relationship. Our relationship and payment details have been ironed out,” Mr. Ansari said.
He was referring to a meeting between Indian and Iranian Finance Ministers on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington where they had discussed routing payments for India’s imports.
India has cut its oil imports from Iran by approximately 20% in 2017, though its global imports have risen by 5.4%. Some companies such as Essar oil have dropped imports from Iran in August by as much as 75%, according to oil industry estimates.
The Petroleum Ministry says India has been trying to “diversify” its imports so as to get more competitive rates.
One major development is India’s decision to import its first shipment of crude oil from the U.S., with an order of 8.45 million barrels, giving rise to speculation that New Delhi’s new policy will come at the cost of imports from Iran.
“We want to have good relations with India, and we understand its need to have eggs in many baskets. We do, however, want that India’s policy to Iran must not be affected by others,” Mr. Ansari said, when asked about whether Iran would lose as a result of the new push for diversification.
In an interview to The Tehran Times last week, Indian Ambassador Saurabh Kumar echoed that view on the issue of reduced oil imports, saying India’s ties “stand on their own feet” and are not a “zero-sum game” with the “western world”.
Continued commitment
Speaking to The Hindu , the Iranian Ambassador pointed to the development of the Chabahar port as a sign of India’s continued commitment in Iran.
“The India-Afghanistan-Iran trilateral agreement for Chabahar should be ratified by the Iranian parliament in the next few months,” Mr. Ansari said, indicating that the Iranian government would want to discuss a possible bid for the management of the port with India as well.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tehran in June 2016, India committed to invest $500 million, including $85 million in developing two container berths and three multi-cargo berths at the Chabahar port, as well as about $1.6 billion to build the Chabahar-Zahedan railway line, which will facilitate trade to Afghanistan.
Port completion
After a year of relatively slow progress, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari travelled to Iran in August 2017, promising to complete the project in 2018.
His Iranian counterpart, Abbas Akhoundi, is expected to visit New Delhi soon in order to take the discussions on the Chabahar port forward, while the next meeting of the Economic Joint Commission is also due, to work on long-standing differences over Indian banks being used for bilateral trade, officials said.
Mr. Ansari said he hoped that India would join in the reconstruction effort in Syria and Iraq after the fall of the Islamic State, which is imminent.
“After Daesh [IS] is defeated, rebuilding these countries will not be possible without the cooperation of all countries, and it is an opportunity for both India and Iran to work together,” he said.
