Why reformist Pezeshkian may ease economic cooperation between India and Iran

New Delhi

In reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran has found a new president over a month after President Ebrahim Raisi's death in a helicopter crash which necessitated snap elections. A cardiac surgeon and single dad who is seen as an advocate of greater freedoms for women in post-revolution Iran, Pezeshkian will now confront the challenge of navigating through his reformist policy agenda in a deeply conservative polity.

But there is one aspect of Pezeshkian's job in which he is expected to be on the same page as the Supreme Leader and incredibly powerful Guardian Council: bilateral ties with India.

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On the economic front, Iran continues to face the burden of choking US sanctions amid Tehran's tacit insistence on becoming a nuclear power. But in recent years, Tehran has found a credible economic partner in New Delhi. The two countries recently formalised a crucial Chabahar port deal. 

India has formalised some of its most significant foreign investments, with a deal for the operations of a part of Iran's Chabahar Port, located just 200 km from China-funded Gwadar port in Pakistan, and key to New Delhi's connectivity ambitions with Russia through Central Asia.

Iran is at the centre of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) | WION

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar visited Iran in January this year with a focus on concluding the Chabahar Port Deal and developments on the North-South Corridor.

Also read | The Capitals: New Delhi achieves crucial strategic breakthrough with Tehran outreach

Five months after Jaishankar's Tehran visit in which the two sides committed to a "long term cooperation framework" over Chabahar port's development, India and Iran signed a 10-year contract for equipping and operation of general cargo and container terminals of Chabahar port. 

Also read | The Capitals: New Delhi seals deal to operate Chabahar port for a decade; and more

The Chabahar Port project is central to India's regional connectivity strategy and serves as a vital gateway for Indian goods into Afghanistan and Russia. The port's strategic location provides an alternative route for landlocked Afghanistan to access international markets, reducing its dependence on Pakistan and giving New Delhi a strategic advantage in a Taliban-run Kabul. 

Pezeshkian in Tehran: What it means for New Delhi?

In past, even when the Conservative presidents were in power in Iran, New Delhi managed to utilise its diplomatic capital in the West to secure a waiver of sanctions for economic cooperation with Tehran — especially for Chabahar's development. 

But with Pezeshkian's promising outlook for country's better ties with the West along with the rest of the world — and India's elevated ties with most Western powers — it will make New Delhi's economic cooperation with Tehran devoid of geopolitical brakes. 

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As the world's fifth biggest economy with a per capita income as less as $2400, it's in India's interest to ensure feasible connectivity routes so that Indians back home are able to get cheaper goods.