Like a third wheel, US complicates India-Iran relations
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Tehran recently to work through bilateral relations and pursue a port development project.
Iran and India held their 19th joint commission meeting Dec. 22-23, as the countries’ bilateral relations are at their lowest in probably a decade.
This commission framework was supposed to be a milestone for enhancing Tehran-New Delhi cooperation. Though some progress was made this year, the meeting is now a barely meaningful event, mainly because of the tension between Iran and the United States.
The India-Iran Joint Commission began in the late 1960s. At the time, its main agenda was expanding economic and cultural ties. While it achieved promising results during its early years, bilateral relations cooled over conflicts on the subcontinent. Iran, as part of the Western bloc of the Cold War and a member of the Central Treaty Organization, chose to support its Islamic and allied neighbor Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war.
However, by the end of the 1970s, numerous circumstances had changed, including Iran’s allegiance to the West. Iran-India bilateral relations entered a new era.
