Iran draws inspiration from Jawaharlal Nehru as US sanctions loom over ties with India 

As bilateral relations between Iran and India stare at US economic sanctions, Iran has drawn inspiration from the legacy of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The Iranian mission in New Delhi made its Twitter debut earlier this week with a quote from India’s first Prime Minister.

"Few people have been more closely related in origin and throughout history than the people of India and the people of Iran - Jawaharlal Nehru,” the Iranian mission in New Delhi tweeted out its first message on August 2.

The deep imprint that Nehru has left on India’s bilateral relations with Iran isn’t lost on India’s former junior external affairs minister Salman Haidar. “Nehru was quite active in reaching out to Iran and its then leader Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The bilateral relations between the two countries went beyond oil trade. There was a sense of solidarity between the two peoples at the time,” Haidar told National Herald.

Haidar also noted that Nehru paid a visit to Iran in 1963, while the Iranian leader made a trip to India in 1956, which Haidar said was a testament to strong relations between the two countries.

“Unfortunately, the momentum created in bilateral relations couldn’t be sustained after the Shah was overthrown in the Iranian revolution of 1979,” said the former top diplomat.

It was only in 1995 that an Indian PM, PV Narsimha Rao at the time, made their first bilateral visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the first by an Indian leader since the Islamic Revolution.

However, Nehru’s credibility remained undented in the eyes of the Iranian leadership.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, hailed Nehru as “trustworthy” and “well-informed” in a recollection of the Indian leader, as late as May 2016.

“You should read the book Glances at World History written by Jawaharlal Nehru. In the chapter which is about the interference of the English in India, he says that the kind of industry and science which existed in India was not inferior to the one in Europe, England and the west,” Iran’s supreme leader said. “Well, Nehru was both trustworthy and well-informed,” Khamenei said of the Indian leader.

The pulling out from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear deal, by US President Donald Trump in May this year has had its implications felt on India. India, a key US ally, has called on the Modi government to wind up its Iranian crude imports by November 4.

Heavily reliant on Iranian crude to fuel its fast-growing economy, India has been walking a diplomatic tightrope on the issue to balance its relations with Iran and the US. While the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has publicly stated that it has continued with India’s tradition of maintaining an independent foreign policy, news reports suggest otherwise.

According to a report, the government has asked some major banks to wind up its dealings with Iran by the deadline set by the US. A Reuters report said that India’s crude imports from Iran had surged by 30% last month, when stacked up against figures for last July. The same report goes on to note that the increase in imports was related to impending US sanctions and importing Iranian crude could become tougher from August onwards.