Ties with Iran of paramount importance to India: Commentator

Press TV has interviewed political commentator Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm about Iran, India and Afghanistan having signed a key trilateral agreement to develop the southern Iranian port of Chabahar in the Gulf of Oman.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: First of all, talk to us about the significance of the expanding of ties on various different sectors between Iran and India.

Khoshcheshm: Well as a matter of fact the agile relations between the two states date back to several centuries ago when thousands of Iranians went to India and they are still in there and some of Persian words are still used there ... in conversations but [the] significance of these ties goes beyond simple regional relations.

An energy-hungry country like India has always been loyal to its partner, Iran, even under the sanctions. They imported crude from Iran despite the fact that they were under the United States harsh pressures and in the meantime Iran is of geopolitical interest for India that is in tight rivalry with Pakistan, even their geopolitical rivalries in the region have now stretched to the political scene in Afghanistan, and India could use the transit route through Afghanistan and Chabahar to reach the Central Asian markets and bypass Pakistan, so it is of paramount importance to India to work with Iran and to increase its economic and trade and transit interactions with Tehran.

In the meantime, because it has been always loyal to Iran and stood by Iran even when Iran was under the harshest sanctions of the United States and its allies, Iran is much interested to develop its ties with these states. One is Switzerland that you saw in a scarce meeting with Iranian Supreme Leader, Iranian Leader encouraged Switzerland to develop ties. It was a very scarce meeting between the Iranian Leader and a European president or leader.

The same is true with regard to India. Iran has prioritized expanding relations with those states that stood by its side when it was under sanctions. That is why Iran is much interested to keep India in the development of its energy field Farzad B in the Persian Gulf and also the two sides can work more in order to confront the threat of drug trafficking that is posed in Afghanistan and also the terrorism and war that is waging across the region especially in Afghanistan that borders both countries.

So they have different interests in developing their ties, including supply of energy needs to India through Iran and this corridor, the Chabahar corridor, shows trust that these nations have in each other in order to rely on each other that I will explain later in the program.

Press TV: Well of course you mentioned Chabahar; later on a trilateral agreement will be signed between India, Iran and Afghanistan for further establishment of this southeastern port city. What can establishing Chabahar as a trade and transit zone do for the region?

Khoshcheshm: Chabahar is considered now … a regional hub. It is a means. This agreement … its initial idea was endorsed 14 years ago in a MOU signed by the three countries. Since then India has been interested in developing Chabahar port in Iran as I said in order to bypass Pakistan, its regional rival.

But what matters more is that increased interactions in area of economy, transit and transport of passengers and cargos means more interest. This trilateral agreement can be studied in two aspects - in economic aspects and in political ones. From the viewpoint of economy, increased interactions mean that these three states are trying through their collective efforts to expand their shared economic interests in order to activate each other’s potential and use each other’s capacities in order to earn more from each other and this means that the idea of connectivity, connecting regional states to each other, is being materialized through this agreement.

Remember that this railway link could be linked to similar arrangements that Iran has had with Oman, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, also to a rail link that starts from Iran and goes to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, also it could be linked to the Silk Road railway that starts from China to Kyrgyzstan, to Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran, so it shows that an interwoven network of railings could be developed through these networks, one is this Chabahar corridor and it is very important for the economy of India, Afghanistan and Iran of course.

From political aspects, remember that underdevelopment is a major constituent of … unrest, instability and insecurity in every part of the world and this trilateral agreement and the Chabahr corridor could provide for the development of the region especially in bordering areas and it could help the three states expand their relations and interactions with each other due to more shared economic incentives and gains, therefore alongside each other they could stand against common threats and they could stand up for their shared interests and one common threat is terrorism and drug trafficking. So it is of paramount importance to all the three states.  

Press TV: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke of expanding intelligence and efforts in fighting terrorism as you just mentioned. Iran has already established itself as a major player in the fight against terrorism in the region. What significant role can India play in that regard?

Khoshcheshm: Well India has come under attack [in] many cases by the terrorists and it values Iran’s valuable experiences in this field. Remember that now in Syria and Iraq, Iran is on the frontline, its advisors of course, and it is providing advice to the regional forces along with the Russian air force that is providing air backup in order to push back the terrorists and Iran and its allies and aligned forces like Ansarullah, that is an aligned force thinking the same way as Iran, they are the only forces in the region that have succeeded in pushing back the al-Qaeda and ISIL (Daesh) in different parts, in Yemen, in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the region.

So India values much Iran’s ideas, experiences and information and remember that now that Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the head of the Taliban has been assassinated and killed, now there might be internal rivalries among the Taliban and some of them might be radicalized to join ISIL and ISIL might grow up and become reinvigorated in Afghanistan and that poses a major potential threat to India as well.  

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