TEHRAN – Iran’s ambassador to New Delhi Ali Chegeni has said that Tehran expects India to resume oil imports from the country and move on the next phase of developing the Chabahar Port project,
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian will visit India later this month to attend the India-Iran Joint Economic Commission, as Chegeni believs that it will “herald a new era” for the countries.
India was the second largest importer of oil from Iran after China until May 2019 when it stopped purchases under pressure from the former Trump administration.
According to Chegeni, trade between India and Iran exceeded $17 billion in 2018-19 and had the potential to reach $30-35 billion this year had New Delhi not stopped Iranian oil imports.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had forged close relationship with former U.S. president Donald Trump who crafted the most draconian sanctions ever on the Islamic Republic with the express aim of bringing Iran’s oil imports down to zero.
While little has changed under Trump’s successor, the new Iranian administration is intent to deprioritize relations with the west and build closer cooperation with the regional countries - and India is no exception.
“We have no limit, no ban, no barrier in developing our relationship with India,” Chegeni said in an interview with India’s online newspaper ThePrint.
“India used to be our big customer of oil, and we were the first country to export oil to India based on the rupee. It was recognition of the rupee as international money, instead of using the dollar or some other currency. We did that also to buy commodities from India,” he said.
Iran apparently hopes Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian’s visit to India will put trade back on track.
“My minister will be coming; we will have an exchange of visits. A new chapter will be opened. Both countries have a lot of potential to improve the relationship. We are going to have a very good relationship, promoting economic, political and other aspects of the relationship,” Chegeni was quoted as saying.
“We are strategic partners, we are in the same geography, we are in the same history,” the ambassador said, adding “I now see goodwill and the potential of a high-profile relationship under our new President.”
Since President Ebrahim Raisi came to office in August, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has visited Iran twice. Meanwhile, President Raisi has appointed a special representative for India for the first time in the history of the two countries’ relations.
For now, Iran expects India to resume oil purchases. “Of course, we are not deciding on behalf of our Indian friends; Indian authorities should do that. But from our side, there is no problem in exporting oil and gas, petrochemical and even non-oil goods. There is a big capacity,” Chegeni said.
“If India starts taking oil, gas and other data-x-items from Iran, then both sides can have balanced trade,” he added.
Senior Indian officials have said that oil refiners in the country are prepared for a resumption of crude imports from Iran, adding they will quickly enter into contracts the moment Iran is cleared for exporting oil.
Indian refiners, they say, are eager to resume imports from Iran both because of better contractual arrangements and also due to lower freight costs on shorter voyage.
However, while sanctions are a key nuisance, Tehran has repeatedly complained of New Delhi’s perceived reluctance to turn some of their joint projects on paper into reality.
India, in Chegeni’s words, considers the Chabahar Port project as the golden gateway to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, but there is “not enough activity” from its side to complete it.
“Chabahar, on paper, is not covered by the US’ illegal sanctions,” he said, but India is probably still scared of “third parties” to invest and work in Chabahar.
Under a trilateral contract signed with Iran and Afghanistan in May 2016, India is developing two berths at the Shahid Beheshti port of Chabahar with a total capital investment of $85 million and will operate them on a 10-year lease.
Operations at the terminals have somehow started, but New Delhi has not moved on the next phase of the project, which involves building a rail-link from Chabahar to the Iranian city of Zahedan, near the Afghanistan border.

Indian Port of Mundra Resumes Processing Iranian Ships

The Shipping Association of Iran (SAOI) says Iranian ships are no longer banned from India’s port of Mundra some three weeks after an Indian port operator said it will no longer process containers from Iran at the port.
In a letter addressed to Iran’s main business forum on Sunday, SAOI Secretary General Masoud Palme said that restrictions on Iranian ships had been lifted at Mundra, which is India’s largest private port, according to a report by the ISNA news agency.
India’s Adani Ports said on October 11 that its terminals in the country would no longer process import and export containers from Iran as well as from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
It came after reports said that Indian authorities had seized a large shipment of narcotics originating from Afghanistan.
However, Palme said in his letter to the Iranian Chamber of Commerce that the issue had been resolved with Adani, adding that Iranian-flagged ships or ships carrying cargoes loaded from Iranian ports would be able to dock at Mundra, located in India’s western state of Gujarat.
He said that Iranian businesses in India and the country’s embassy in the New Delhi had contributed to negotiations with Adani Ports that led to the removal of the ban in Mundra.
Iran has expanded its sea trade with India in recent years with efforts mostly focused on development of the southeastern Iranian port of Chabahar through which India seeks easier access to Afghanistan and landlocked countries in Central Asia.
A report by the semi-official Tasnim news agency said India’s ambassador to Tehran Gaddam Dharmendra had travelled to Bandar Shahid Rajayi, Iran’s largest container port, on Sunday.
The report said that the diplomat’s visit to the port on the Persian Gulf coast was in line with plans to sign a sister ports agreement between Shahid Rajayi and India’s port of Mumbai.