Despite American pressure, India says it will have independent ties with Iran

Despite American pressure on Tehran and on New Delhi to cut its oil imports from Iran, India has come out and said it will have independent ties with Iran.

In a written reply in the Lok sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh said, "India’s bilateral relations with Iran stand on their own and are not influenced by India’s relations with any third country." He added that "both sides are engaged in developing a long-term partnership in energy deepening of trade and investment cooperation and an early and full operations of Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar."

The answer comes a little after Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Dr Seyyed Abbas Araghchi visited New Delhi and met Foreign Secretary Shri Vijay Gokhale. India and Iran exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, including efforts being made by various parties to address issues that have arisen over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the Iran nuclear deal.

India has always maintained that the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved through dialogue, with the resolution respecting Iran's right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Interestingly, the US Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, Marshall Billingslea, was also in Delhi. The treasury department, in reply to a WION question, said Billingslea was in Delhi to talk on a "range of bilateral issues including countering terrorism finance, the regulation of virtual currency, Iran, and other AML/CFT issues."

India and US will hold the first 2+2 dialogue — between India's external affairs and defence ministers and the US' secretaries of state and defence — in September in which talk of Iran and Russia is expected to dominate. The dialogue was postponed in July since US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Pyongyang.