Days before Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, has reached New Delhi for talks Friday with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. Iran is looking at increasing bilateral trade with India, including via the Chabahar port. From tourism to agriculture, Tehran wants to boost ties with Delhi and bilateral talks will take place before the Trump administration takes charge on January 20. Sources said Iran would also like to get a sense from Indian officials on dealing with sanctions — India has stopped buying oil from Iran due to the threat of sanctions, but has continued to buy oil from Russia despite sanctions. A top Iranian government source said while the “circumstances” of Russia and Iran are “different”, these questions merit discussions. “We don’t want to deal with the past, but want to look into the future,” the source said. For Tehran, which has suffered from the economic sanctions imposed during Trump’s first term, increasing trade with India is “very important”. Tehran hopes to diversify to other areas, including agriculture and petrochemical products through the Chabahar port. Iran is also looking at an increase in Indian tourist travel to Iran, and wants to facilitate that. While it’s a people-to-people exchange, it increases economic activity. Tehran also wants an increase in the number of Iranians travelling to India. Tehran, which is also preparing for the Trump 2.0 administration, believes Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran has “failed”. “While it has caused hardship to the people of Iran, the policy has failed,” the Iranian government source said, adding that the world has also changed since the first Trump term. Iran is now “cooperating with Saudi Arabia”, and has developed closer ties with both Russia and China. The regional situation is also going to be discussed with the Indian government. The Iranian source expressed “concern” over the turn of events in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Tehran has expressed concern over the security situation in Syria where President Bashar-al Assad was ousted by rebels. “Those who are in charge in Syria don’t have a good track record,” the source said, referring to rebel groups tracing their roots to Al Qaeda and ISIS. “Whether they have changed or not, we will have to see,” the source said. Tehran feels that terrorism can flourish again and can be felt in the region, and wants to discuss these issues with officials in Delhi. “It is a serious issue, and we are living in a very uncertain neighbourhood,” the source said. Iran is also building ties with Russia, and officials said that they are going to sign a major partnership pact with Russia at the end of January. Tehran also views China as a “very important” partner which has “economic power” spread across the world.
