The Iranian connection

Shobori Ganguly

Having compelled the United States to back down from its unsolicited advice on how best India can

 deal with Iran, New Delhi is all set to welcome Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week.

In firmly telling Washington that it did not need "any guidance" on how to conduct bilateral relations with another country, New Delhi also did well to point out that "both nations are perfectly capable of managing all aspects of their relationship with the appropriate degree of care and attention."

Admittedly, India, more than the US, is acutely aware of the hazards of a nuclear-armed Iran, flanked as it already is by nuclearised Pakistan and China. However, given China's strategic proximity to Pakistan, it little serves India's national security interest to antagonise Iran in any manner that could make South Asia bristle with hostility and imbalance of power.

In essence, India can ill afford to ape the Americans' visceral hatred of Iran, simply because the geography and politics of the region impel otherwise. As pointed out by former US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill, "if it (India) faces a binary choice of either that (a nuclear Iran) or an American military attack on Iran, it would choose to try to deal with a nuclear Iran, without the attack." New Delhi has therefore categorically asserted that "engagement and dialogue alone can lead to peace."

India has had a civilisational link with Iran which it can now appropriately employ to inform bilateral relations in tune with 21st century realities. To that extent India has consistently maintained that dialogue, not military aggression, is the best form of engagement with the Iranian leadership.

Although India did vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2006 - a move that disturbed Tehran a bit - following it up with the launch of an Israeli spy satellite earlier this year, New Delhi is acutely conscious of the need to keep Ahmadinejad's nation in good humour.

Indeed it can be nobody's case that isolation and military threats can in any way divert Iran from its nuclear energy programme. Also, the IAEA itself has not confirmed Western fears about Iran pursuing a nuclear arms programme.

It would therefore help not to equate Iran with the hermetic North Korea - a mistake the US repeatedly makes - because isolation has only strengthened the North's determination to evolve into a dangerous nuclear threat beyond the pale of reason.

New Delhi must therefore put its best foot forward when Ahmadinejad arrives here on his maiden visit since he became President. For India, the most overwhelming concern in doing business with a country like Iran is energy security.

At the core of such a partnership lies the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline that has been under American pressure since its inception, with the US having threatened to impose sanctions on any Indian oil company that does business with Iran.

Only last year, Essar shied away from setting up an oil refinery in Iran in fear of violating US sanctions. Although ONGC is currently in discussion with Iran on developing oil and gas fields, American heat on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme has kept India edgy.

It is for no other reason that India has been avoiding trilateral meetings on the IPI since last year, a project that could pump 60 million cubic metres of gas daily into the subcontinent.

This, owing to the Americans' unsubstantiated fears that the revenue Iran earns from this pipeline will be diverted to its clandestine nuclear weaponisation. To that extent, the US has been pushing the alternative Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, a project for which Indian Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is currently in Pakistan.

This American-backed project is essentially to keep Iran out of entering into what could be an extremely lucrative partnership for that country with energy-starved India and Pakistan.

It is no secret that the US sees a huge window of revenue-generating opportunity for itself through the 1,680 km long TAPI pipeline, a US$3.5 billion project sponsored by the Asian Development Bank.

If energy is the name of the game, which indeed it is in this case, India would do well not to play along the American way alone. While Deora is in Pakistan to ink the TAPI project, Friday was also set aside for discussions with Pakistan on differences over transportation tariff and transport fee for the IPI project, an issue that New Delhi has hitherto cited as reason for going slow on the project.

That the Americans are breathing down this project's neck however has been evident right from the outset. It is only to be hoped that Deora takes the IPI project further. Else, it will be India's loss because China is all set to take the plunge in case India backs out.

Despite having joined the international chorus against Iran at the IAEA, India now has a credible opportunity in Ahmadinejad's visit to assure Tehran of India's commitment to warm bilateral relations, a signal of which was duly posted to the Americans last Tuesday.

Stung by the US's now familiar harangue on how to deal with Iran, India firmly outlined the exigencies of the region saying, "It is important that the genius of each nation living in a particular region is respected and allowed to flower to meet the expectations of enriching relations with neighbours."

Clearly, India has set the ground rules, both for Iran and for the US. They must, however, not remain mere diplomatic platitudes.

Daily Pioneer, India