Return of the Persian Puzzle | Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

"For India, Iran is also a cantankerous partner. It seeks to renegotiate formal agreements, breaks off friendly understandings, raises the ante, and often irritates. Iran has never come to terms with India's vote in the IAEA and UN Security Council over the nuclear controversy. The Indian move was seen and often explained within the context of American ‘diktats,' but there was a subtext; even Russia and China—its traditional friends—were not prepared to accept the Iranian narrative and India’s anti-Iran vote was in sync with the prevailing international consensus. Without seeing the Indian vote within the context of Tehran’s own isolation, Iranian elites have been flagging it to irritate New Delhi. Indeed, Iran’s recent suggestion regarding Chinese involvement in the development of the Chabahar port is not music to South Block.

It is not as if Iran has exercised a great deal of restraint on issues that are dear to India. Powerful segments in Iran, including its Supreme Leader, have been making unfavourable statements on Kashmir and drawing parallels with the occupied Palestinian territories. Iran’s cooperation in counter-terrorism is also less exemplary. According to the Indian government, Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is facing a death sentence in Pakistan, was abducted from Iranian soil. "