Boosting Ties: Issues of mutual concern to be taken up during Ajit Doval’s Iran trip

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In a significant move NSA Ajit Doval is scheduled to visit Tehran on Monday at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani ahead of the country’s formal entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit here on July 3-4.

During his one-day visit to Tehran, Doval will meet with Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) of Iran, and other senior Iranian officials to discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest, hinted at by persons familiar with the agenda. Shamkhani and Doval have been meeting on the sidelines of the meetings of various regional groupings.

This will be the maiden high-level visit from India to Iran since rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh that promises to stabilize the larger West Asian region and boost economies. Earlier following the Saudi-Iran peace deal a senior MEA official had travelled to Riyadh to engage on wide ranging issues. Doval’s visit is happening a day after the Iraqi President visited Tehran.

ET has learnt that Iran’s formal admission into the SCO will be a key item on the agenda of Doval’s visit. Iran may also discuss its prospective entry into BRICS and nudge India to start purchasing oil through the mechanism of national currencies as in the past.

Strategically located Iran — occupies — a key place in India’s calculus as the country that is key for India’s access to Russia, Central Asia and Afghanistan. Expectedly boosting trade via the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and Chabahar Port will figure high on the agenda of Doval’s visit. Linking Chabahar Port with INSTC will also be on the agenda. India plans to sign a long agreement with Iran on the Chabahar Port. It may be recalled INSTC played a key role in boosting India-Russia trade since the war in Ukraine. Recently India-Iran-Armenia held a trilateral meeting eyeing to boost INSTC as well as proposed a corridor parallel to INSTC via Armenia to boost trade with Russia and Europe.

Iran shares a long boundary with Afghanistan and the two NSAs are also expected to discuss the current situation in the landlocked country and emerging terror threats from there.

Last Thursday Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Iranian counterpart Brigadier General Mohammed Reza Gharaei Ashtiyani met here on the sidelines of the SCO meet and exchanged views on regional security issues, including peace and stability in Afghanistan. The two Ministers also discussed INSTC. (ET)