India-Iran Ties | Multidimensional significance of Modi-Pezeshkian meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meet in Kazan at a time when both India and Iran face pressure from the United States

The October 22 meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit (October 22-24) in Kazan, Russia, was a welcome development, as it was their first meeting and also the first high-level contact between New Delhi and Tehran since the new Iranian government assumed office after the presidential election on July 5.

The bilateral ties showed signs of an upswing following Modi’s meeting with former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in Johannesburg in August 2023 as India put its weight decisively behind Iran’s long-awaited membership of the BRICS grouping. Raisi and Modi resolved a nagging issue over Chabahar Port. But then tragic fate struck in May when Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash. Raisi reminds one of Lal Bahadur Shastri — another modest, self-effacing leader of iron will and immense promise whose life was cut short in its prime. 

Raisi’s untimely departure created uncertainties. Modi and Pezeshkian will now be picking up the threads. Pezeshkian is a reformist leader who, like Modi, gives primacy to the development agenda. His mandate in the July election stemmed from his reputation as a politician of impeccable integrity and rare compassion toward the dispossessed and the destitute in Iran’s margins. Unsurprisingly, Pezeshkian’s number one priority is to get rid of the stranglehold of Western sanctions so that Iran’s economy can perform optimally. Indeed, both Modi and Pezeshkian are navigating a difficult external environment. 

Their meeting in Kazan comes at a time when the two countries face pressure from the United States. While the leitmotifs may seem dissimilar, the paradigm is, quintessentially, a reflection of the US’ hegemony and doublespeak that both India and Iran are facing today. Perhaps, Iran has been at the receiving end for a much longer period and in a more vicious form.

The US-backed coup in 1953 — we call it colour revolution / regime change — which overthrew the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, was a retaliation for nationalisation of British oil companies exploiting Iran’s oil resources. At its core, the 1979 Islamic Revolution was a mass upheaval against the pro-Western autocratic regime imposed on Iran a quarter century ago, and it was anchored on the aspirations of nationalism, strategic autonomy, and independent foreign policies. This is not quite understood by Indian intelligentsia weaned on propagandistic Western narratives on ‘Islamism’. 

Through the seven decades since Independence in 1947, the Indian elite disconnected from the concepts of justice and (peaceful) resistance that were the building blocks of the freedom struggle. Whereas Iran’s Islamism is enshrined in its constitution. When the Supreme Leader in his annual Eid message articulates the plight of Muslim people in various regions of the world, that is borne out of a profound sense of obligation that criss-crosses the domains of spirituality and Iran’s identity as part of the Ummah. 

What did Ayatollah Khamenei say? On September 24, in his post on X, Khamenei said: “We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in #Myanmar, #Gaza, #India, or any other place.” Significantly, Khamenei added, “The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah.” 

At any rate, the dust settled down, and Modi meeting Pezeshkian hardly a month later signals that India has the maturity to discern what actually constitutes foreign interference. The searing experience of the shenanigans of the Five Eyes has been an eye-opener for India regarding the cutting edges of foreign interference, as North America shelters fugitives from Indian law. There are over five dozen Indian requests for extradition pending with the US authorities. That’s ‘rules-based order’ for you! 

To be sure, the Modi-Pezeshkian meeting in Kazan is dripping with symbolism. Two like-minded leaders of the Global South are exploring the frontiers of the emerging multipolarity in the world order; they are big beneficiaries of the BRICS agenda to create a post-Bretton Woods trade and international financial system; and, most importantly, they are messaging that there is life beyond the current turmoil in West Asia.

As for India, it is engaging Iran with deliberation notwithstanding the fog of war descending on the Persian Gulf. There cannot be a more demonstrative act of solidarity with Iran. 

(M K Bhadrakumar is a former diplomat.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.