Abstract: India’s relations with Iran have been long fraught with complexity due to the geostrategic advantages of the relationship being counterbalanced by very different perspectives on external actors such as the United States, Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, changing structural realities in world politics – the Cold War, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s and the shifting sands of political relations post 9/11 – have further influenced the development of these relations. This article casts a critical look at the relationship between the two countries, tracing it through modern history, documenting the most important tenets of the relationship and taking a look at the roles of influential third parties. Finally, it aims to chart out a brief plan of action for further ties and an assessment of how things are likely to turn out in the near future.
About the Author:
Mohammed Sinan Siyech is a doctoral candidate at the Islamic and Middle East Studies Department at the University of Edinburgh and a Non – Resident Associate Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. Previously he was a senior analyst with the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore. He has written and spoken extensively on Security, Foreign Policy, and Religion in South Asia and the Middle East. He can be contacted at m.s.siyech@sms.ed.ac.uk