Iran-West nuclear pact is good for India and rest
It will be a while before the applause subsides over the deal that six major Western nations and Iran have reached to limit Iran's nuclear programme which, in turn, will lead to the lifting of economic sanctions against Teheran. Global reactions have varied from gushy to sober to downright critical, and it will take some months for the world community to judge whether the deal is working in the way it has been crafted for. But for now there is no denying that the breakthrough is a historic one, since no one had imagined two years ago that the West and Iran could actually agree on anything at all, let alone on a sensitive subject like limiting Tehran's nuclear programme. Among the major countries, Israel and Saudi Arabia have condemned the agreement, and because the reasons for that are known to all, there is no surprise element in their opposition. like the rest of the world, India too is keen that the agreement holds in the long run, because New Delhi and Tehran have in recent months stepped up bilateral engagements.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval have paid visits to Iran, and Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj too will be making a trip, though the dates are not announced yet. The flurry of activity could culminate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Iran in the coming months. He already has a standing invitation from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. For India, therefore, the nuclear agreement between the West and Iran comes as a welcome opening to scale up its engagement with Iran. On the economic front, the gains are obvious. India will have now greater access to Iranian oil at a reasonable price, since Iran should be more than willing to offload the product as quickly as it can after years of suffering the economic blockade. The opening of the Iranian market in general will gladden Indian exporters, though there is a flip side here: Indian exports will face greater competition globally as other countries too will be vying for the Iranian market alongside India. The Chabahar port project is likely to get a fillip too.
But it is on the diplomatic front that New Delhi has to now do a fine balancing act. Over the past months, it has strengthened and deepened its ties with Israel. It also has a sound working relationship with Saudi Arabia. Now, it has to nurture those engagements even as it enhances its dealings with Iran. Diplomacy is all about such finesse. New Delhi will hope that the Iran-West agreement eventually leads to a re-think in Tehran on Israel too. After all, now that Iran is getting back into the global mainstream, it must give up its traditional position that seeks the ‘destruction' of another country — in this case, Israel. It would help if the West prods Tehran in that direction. Who knows, sometime in the future, both Iran and Israel can crack a bilateral deal to end decades of enmity. For that to happen, somebody has to begin laying the ground now.