![\"US](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-133739067,imgsize-88222,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/pm-modi-and-iranian-prez-pezeshkian.jpg\" "\\"PM")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTOI correspondent from Washington:<\/span> US secretary of state Marco Rubio has sought to draw a red line between India\u2019s right to conduct its own diplomacy and Washington\u2019s determination to prevent Iran from rebuilding the economic lifelines strangled by US sanctions.\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a trade deal between India and Iran,\u201d Rubio said Wednesday, after PM Narendra Modi\u2019s meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan drew scrutiny in Washington DC. But he followed that reassurance with a warning that was plainly less accommodating: countries should not help Tehran create mechanisms to generate revenue that could finance terrorism or its nuclear programme, and those that do could themselves face US sanctions.The timing of Rubio\u2019s warning, coming on the heels of PM Modi’s meeting with Pezeshkian, made the message to New Delhi \u2013 which prides itself on its independent foreign policy \u2013 difficult to miss. The two leaders discussed expanding and diversifying bilateral trade, the wars and instability in West Asia, and the need to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping after attacks in the region killed Indian seafarers. India described the meeting as \u201cfruitful\u201d but no formal trade agreement was announced. Pezeshkian, for his part, is reported to have asked PM Modi to use India’s extensive diplomatic contacts to encourage dialogue and help end the conflict.For New Delhi, Iran is not simply another diplomatic relationship; it is a strategic geographic bridge. Iran’s Chabahar port gives India a route into Afghanistan and Central Asia that bypasses Pakistan, while the International North-South Transport Corridor offers a potential land-and-sea connection from India through Iran to Russia and wider Eurasia. Iran has also traditionally been an important source of energy for India. Such interests explain why New Delhi has repeatedly sought exemptions and accommodations from Washington over Chabahar even as US sanctions have made commercial dealings increasingly hazardous.The Bishkek summit also gave Iran a larger diplomatic stage at a particularly vulnerable moment for Tehran. Pezeshkian met Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanking Moscow for its support and calling for closer cooperation against what he described as US \u201cunilateralism.\u201d He also met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.Yet his message was not simply defiance. Addressing the SCO, he said Iran was prepared to reciprocate if Washington honoured commitments under an interim agreement reached in June, and indicated that Tehran remained open to negotiations. He also linked freedom of navigation through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz to implementation of the agreement.The SCO meeting — largely ignored by the US media — itself provided Tehran with diplomatic company at a critical time. Its members condemned the military strikes on Iran and rejected unilateral coercive measures, while reaffirming Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear activity. The organisation also called for greater cooperation in energy, trade and finance. “This is a big deal, particularly since India – an ally of both the US and Israel – also signed it,” noted Trita Parsi, a foreign policy analyst with the Quincy Institute for Responsible StatecrafIn Washington, that is precisely what makes the SCO uncomfortable. American commentators see it less as a coherent anti-US alliance than as evidence of an emerging world in which countries increasingly want freedom from American economic and diplomatic dominance. Western analysts, however, don\u2019t view India’s participation as allying with the China-Russia axis; rather, New Delhi is seen as using overlapping institutions to maximise its room for manoeuvre.India now sits at an extraordinary number of geopolitical tables: the US-led Quad with Japan and Australia; the BRICS grouping, which it chairs this year; the SCO alongside China, Russia and Iran; and the G20, which will meet in Florida later this year, besides other regional and Global South forums. To Washington, this is simultaneously an asset and an irritation. India is an increasingly important US partner in balancing China \u2014 but it refuses to become an American ally in the traditional sense.For New Delhi, the logic is a no-brainer: partnership with US does not require hostility toward Russia, China or Iran. But the space for that multi-alignment is narrowing rapidly in MAGA’s America First era. With Washington intensifying secondary sanctions against anyone helping Tehran generate revenue \u2013 and even the UAE curbing its economic channels with Iran \u2013 Indian companies, banks and shippers face the real cost of India’s diplomatic balancing act. PM Modi may continue to meet everyone; the harder question is how long Indian business can afford to do the same.<\/div>\n PM Modi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held talks on trade, West Asia conflict and maritime security on the sidelines of the SCO summit TOI correspondent from Washington: US secretary of state Marco Rubio has sought to draw a red line between India\u2019s right to conduct its own diplomacy and Washington\u2019s determination to prevent Iran 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Modi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held talks on trade, West Asia conflict and maritime security on the sidelines of the SCO summit TOI correspondent from Washington: US secretary of state Marco Rubio has sought to draw a red line between India\u2019s right to conduct its own diplomacy and Washington\u2019s determination to prevent Iran […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 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