India-iran Relations: Progress, Problems and Prospects

This book examines India’s relationship with Iran since the post-World War II period and its unique search for meaningful bilateral ties in the West Asian region in the context of the changing regional and international scenarios. The four chapters highlight the achievements and constraints on the development of Indo-Iranian relations during the Cold War era; opportunities and limitations in bilateral engagements between India and Iran in the aftermath of the Cold War; impact of the ‘US factor’ on the development of crucial Indo-Iranian energy ties and the limitation imposed by India’s relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia on the India–Iran ties. More specifically, the four chapters touch on the central drivers―energy imports, access to Central Asia, cooperation in Afghanistan, mutual trade and economic investments and security ties―of India’s Iran policy, and how they structure India’s interaction with the other countries of the region and impact on the articulation of national interests. Combining a rich interplay of facts and figures with nuanced analyses, this volume will be a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, diplomats and any interested reader desirous of knowing more about Indo-Iranian relations in particular and India’s West Asia policy in general.

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Sujata Ashwarya is Assistant Professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She received her MPhil and PhD degrees in West Asian Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was awarded fellowships for research at the Rothberg International School, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (MSH) and Centre d’Etudes et des Recherches Internationales (CERI), Paris; and the Schusterman Centre for Israel Studies, Brandeis University, USA. She was also affiliated as a researcher at the Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Iran. Her research interests include India’s West Asia policy, politics and foreign policy of Iran, Iraq and Israel, politics of energy, and issues relating to democratisation in the region. Her books, Civil Society, Democracy and State in West Asia (edited) and Essays on Iran and Israel: An Indian Perspective were published in 2010 and 2014 respectively.