Embassy of India
Tehran
*****
India-Iran Relations
Overview
India and Iran share a millennia-long history of interactions.
The contemporary and relationship draws upon the strength of these historical and civilisational ties, and continues
to grow further marked by high-level exchanges, commercial and connectivity cooperation, cultural and robust
people-to-people ties.
Political relations;
2. India and Iran signed a friendship treaty on 15th March 1950. The visit of Prime
Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Iran and the signing of the Tehran Declaration in April 2001, followed by the
visit of President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami and the signing of the New Delhi Declaration in 2003 deepened the
India-Iran cooperation.
3. The bilateral relations were further boosted by the visit of Prime Minister Shri
Narendra Modi to Iran in May 2016. During the visit, a joint statement titled “Civilizational Connect, Contemporary
Context” was issued, and 12 MOUs/Agreements were signed. The Trilateral Agreement on Trade, Transport and Transit
between India, Iran and Afghanistan was signed . President Rouhani visited India in February
2018, during which a joint statement titled “Towards Prosperity Through Greater Connectivity” was issued.
4. Prime Minister Modi met President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS
Summit in Kazan, Russia in October 2024 where the two leaders rdiscussed ways to furtherstrengthen the bilateral
relations. This was their first meeting since President Pezeshkian assumed office in July 2024. Prime Minister Modi
had met President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of BRICS Summit in August 2023 and on the sidelines of the
SCO Heads of State Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in September 2022. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar visited Iran
on 22 May 2024 to attend the official ceremony to pay condolences following the demise of President Dr. Seyyed Ebrahim
Raisi, Foreign Minister Dr. Hossein
Amir-Abdollahian and other Iranian officials in May 2024.
5. There have been two Parliamentary speaker-level visits between India and Iran, with Lok
Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar visiting Iran in 2011, followed by a return visit by the Speaker of Majlis, Dr Ali
Larijani to India in 2013.
6. In July 2024, Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Roads Transportation and Highways, represented
Government of India at the swearing-in ceremony of President Pezeshkian. In May 2024,
Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways visited Iran to witness the
signing of the long term Contract on Development of the Chabahar Port. External Affairs
Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Iran in January 2024. EAM had visited Iran in
July and August 2021 where he called on President Raisi. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein
Amir Abdollahian visited India in June 2022. In August 2022, Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister
of Ports, Shipping and Waterways visited Iran, during which the MoU on Recognition of
Certificates of Competency in Unlimited Voyages between Iran and India was signed.
7. The two countries have in place several Bilateral Consultative Mechanisms at various
levels including the Joint Committee Meeting (JCM), Foreign Office Consultations (FOC),
Security Consultations at the level of National Security Advisers and Deputy National Security
Advisers, and the Joint Consular Committee Meeting (JCCM). India and Iran also have Joint
Working Groups to facilitate cooperation in various sectors of mutual interest.
Connectivity
8. India and Iran signed a MoU in 2015 to jointly cooperate on the development of the
Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar, Iran. India continues to cooperate closely with Iran in realizing the vision of
Chabahar Port as a major regional and international hub in the movement of humanitarian and commercial goods.
Trade Relations
9. India and Iran are important trade partners. India has been among Iran’s five largest
trade partners in recent years. Major Indian exports to Iran include rice, tea, sugar, pharmaceuticals, manmade
staple fibres, electrical machinery, artificial jewellery etc. while major Indian imports from Iran consist of dry
fruits, inorganic/organic chemicals, glassware, etc.
Cultural Cooperation and People to People Relations
10.Long history of civilizational and cultural links between India and Iran continue to be the
source of robust people to people and cultural ties. The Indian Cultural Centre, established in
2013 and renamed the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC) in 2018 is furthering
these cultural ties. The major tourist destinations in India and Iran continue to attract tourists
of all ages from both countries.
(As on January 2025)
*****
High level visits between India and Iran
Prime Ministerial level
Outgoing visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
|
22-23 May 2016
|
Bilateral
|
|
2.
|
Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister
|
28-31 August 2012
|
To attend the 16th Non-aligned Movement (NAM) summit
|
|
3.
|
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister
|
10-13 April 2001
|
Bilateral
|
|
4.
|
Shri Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister
|
September 1993
|
Bilateral
|
|
5.
|
Shri Morarji Desai, Prime Minister
|
June 1977
|
Bilateral
|
|
6.
|
Smt. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister
|
April 1974
|
Bilateral
|
|
7.
|
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister
|
September 1959
|
Bilateral
|
Incoming visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Dr. Hassan Rouhani, President
|
15-17 February 2018
|
Bilateral
|
|
2.
|
Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President
|
April 29, 2008
|
Bilateral
|
|
3.
|
Mr. Mohammad Khatami, President
|
24-28 January, 2003
|
Chief Guest at the Republic Day function
|
|
4.
|
Mr. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, President
|
April 1995
|
Bilateral
|
|
5.
|
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahalvi
|
February 1978
|
Bilateral
|
|
6.
|
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahalvi
|
February/March 1956
|
Bilateral
|
Vice Presidential level
Outgoing visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Shri Jagdeep Dhankar, Vice President
|
22 May 2024
|
To pay condolences at the official ceremony following
the demise of demise of President Dr. Seyyed Ebrahim
Raisi, Foreign Minister Dr. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian
and other Iranian officials in a helicopter crash.
|
|
2.
|
Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President
|
04 August 2013
|
To attend swearing-in ceremony of President Dr. Hassan Rouhani
|
|
3.
|
Shri K. R. Narayanan, Vice President
|
October 1996
|
Bilateral
|
Incoming visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Dr. Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh, Vice president and Head of department of Environment
|
November 2012
|
11th Conference of Parties (CoP) of UN Convention on Bio-diversity in Hyderabad
|
Parliamentary exchanges
Outgoing visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Smt. Meira Kumar, Speaker of Lok Sabha
|
November 2011
|
Bilateral
|
Incoming visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Dr. Ali Larijani, Speaker of Majlis
|
24-28 February 2013
|
Bilateral
|
|
2.
|
Nazar Afsali, Chairman of India-Iran Parliamentary friendship group
|
26-28 February 2018
|
Bilateral
|
Ministerial level
Outgoing visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Shri. Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister of Road
Transport and Highways
|
30-31 July 2024
|
To attend the swearing-in of President Masoud
Pezeshkian
|
|
2.
|
Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister for Ports,
Shipping and Waterways
|
13 May 2024
|
Bilateral
|
|
3.
|
Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister
|
14-15 January
2024
|
Bilateral
|
|
4.
|
Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister for Ports,
Shipping and Waterways
|
18-21 August
2022
|
Bilateral
|
|
5.
|
Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs
Minister
|
5-6 August
2021
|
To attend the swearing-in of President Seyyed
Ebrahim Raisi
|
|
6.
|
Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs
Minister
|
7 July 2021
|
Bilateral
|
|
7.
|
Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs
Minister
|
22-23
December
2019
|
To attend 19th India-Iran Joint Commission
Meeting (JCM)
|
|
8.
|
Shri Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for
Shipping
|
2-4 December
2017
|
To represent India at the inauguration of the
Chabahar Port
|
|
9.
|
Smt. Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister
|
2 December
2017
|
Bilateral
|
|
10.
|
Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road, Transport,
Highways and Shipping
|
5 August 2017
|
To attend swearing-in ceremony of Iranian
President Dr. Hassan Rouhani
|
|
11.
|
Shri M J Akbar, Minister of State for External
Affairs
|
10-12
September
2016
|
Bilateral
|
|
12.
|
Smt. Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister
|
16-17 April
2016
|
Bilateral
|
|
13.
|
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State for
Petroleum and Natural Gas
|
8-10 April
2016
|
Bilateral
|
|
14.
|
Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women and
Child Development
|
19-21January
2016
|
Special Guest in the 10th International Energy
Management Conference
|
|
15.
|
Shri. Salman Khurshid, External Affairs
Minister
|
03-05 May
2013
|
17th India-Iran Joint Commission Meeting
(JCM)
|
|
16.
|
Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and
Renewable Energy
|
March 2012
|
15th NAM Ministerial Conference
|
|
17.
|
Shri S M Krishna, External Affairs Minister
|
May 15-17
2010
|
14th G-15 Summit
|
|
18.
|
Shri Pranab Mukherjee , External Affairs
Minister
|
July 29-30,
2008
|
15th NAM Ministerial Conference
|
|
19.
|
Shri Pranab Mukherjee , External Affairs
Minister
|
February 6-7
2007
|
Bilateral
|
Incoming visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Brigadier General Mohammad Reza
Gharaei Ashtiani, Minister for
Defense and Armed Forces Logistics
|
27-28 April 2023
|
To attend the meeting of the SCO
Defense Ministers
|
|
2.
|
Dr. Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Foreign Minister
|
8-10 June 2022
|
Bilateral
|
|
3.
|
Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami, Defence Minister
|
2-4 February 2022
|
To attend the First Indian Ocean Defence Ministers Conclave and Aeroindia 2021
|
|
4.
|
Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister
|
14-17 January 2020
|
To attend Raisina Dialogue 2020
|
|
5.
|
Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister
|
13-14 May 2019
|
Bilateral
|
|
6.
|
Mr. Abbas Akhoundi, Minister of Roads & Urban Development
|
9-12 January 2019
|
Bilateral
|
|
7.
|
Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister
|
7-9 January 2019
|
To attend Raisina Dialogue 2019
|
|
8.
|
Dr. Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Minister of Health and Medical Education
|
12-14 December 2018
|
Bilateral
|
|
9.
|
Mr. Abbas Akhoundi, Minister of Roads & Urban Development
|
6-7 September 2018
|
Bilateral
|
|
10.
|
Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister
|
28 May 2018
|
Bilateral
|
|
11.
|
Mr. Bijan Zangeneh, Minister of Petroleum
|
11 April 2018
|
To attend the 16th International Energy Forum in New Delhi
|
|
12.
|
Mr. Mohammad Jahromi, Minister for Communications and IT
|
23-24 November 2017
|
To attend the Global Cyber Conference
|
|
13.
|
Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister
|
4 December 2016
|
To attend 6th Heart of Asia-Istanbul process Ministerial Conference in Amritsar
|
|
14.
|
Dr. Abbas Akhoundi, Minister of Transport and Urban Development
|
27-30 September 2016
|
Bilateral
|
|
15.
|
Dr. Ali Tayyebnia, Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance
|
26-28 December 2015
|
18th Joint Commission Meeting (JCM)
|
|
16.
|
Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister
|
13-14 August 2015
|
Bilateral
|
|
17.
|
Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping
|
May 5-7 2015
|
MoU on Chabahar
|
|
18.
|
Mr. Akbar Torkan, Presidential advisor and Secretary of high Council of Free Zones
|
12 -15 January 2015
|
To attend the Vibrant Gujarat Summit
|
|
19.
|
Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister
|
28 February, 2014
|
Bilateral
|
|
20.
|
Eng. Majid Namjoo, Minister of Energy
|
October 2012
|
To attend the Global Ministerial level “International Seminar on Energy Access”
|
|
21.
|
Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati, Senior Advisor to Supreme Leader on International Affairs
|
December 2011
|
Bilateral
|
Secretary level
Outgoing visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Shri Dammu Ravi, Secretary(ER)
|
24 June 2024
|
19th Asia Cooperation Dialogue Ministerial Meeting
|
|
2.
|
Shri Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Foreign Secretary
|
25 – 26 November 2023
|
18th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
|
|
3.
|
Shri Vijay Gokhale, Foreign Secretary
|
16 September 2019
|
16th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
|
|
4.
|
Shri Gopal Krishna, Secretary (Shipping)
|
26 February 2019
|
To attend Chabahar Day Event 2019
|
|
5.
|
Shri T.S. Tirumurti, Secretary (ER)
|
23-24 October 2018
|
1st Coordination Council Meeting on Trilateral Transit Agreement between Afghanistan,
India & Iran (Chabahar Agreement)
|
|
6.
|
Shri Alok Srivastava, Special Secretary (Shipping)
|
3-6 September 2017
|
6th Joint Committee Meeting on Ports and Maritime Cooperation
|
|
7.
|
Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary
|
16-17 May 2017
|
14th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
|
|
8.
|
Rajiv Kumar, Secretary (Shipping)
|
November 31- December 2, 2015
|
Regarding Chabahar Port project
|
|
9.
|
Shri Rajeev Mehrishi, Finance Secretary
|
25-26 July 2015
|
Bilateral
|
|
10.
|
Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary
|
June 13-14, 2015
|
Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
|
|
11.
|
Smt. Nirupama Rao, Foreign Secretary
|
July 2011
|
9th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
|
Incoming visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Ahmad Khani Nowzari, Deputy Minister for Commercial Development Office, Ministry of Agricultural Jihad (Head of Delegation)
|
04 to 08 February 2024
|
Bilateral
|
|
2.
|
Ali Fekri, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of the Islamic Republic of Iran
|
13 December 2023
|
Bilateral
|
|
3.
|
Alireza Peyman Pak, Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Trade and Market Regulation
|
31st August to 2nd September 2023
|
Bilateral
|
|
4.
|
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Mohammad Mehdi Borumandi
|
10th June 2023
|
Bilateral
|
|
5.
|
Mr. Mehdi Safari, Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy
|
12-13 April 2023
|
1st India-Central Asia JWG on Chabahar Port
|
|
6.
|
Dr. Meisam Abedi, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology
|
21-23 March 2023
|
Bilateral
|
|
7.
|
Mr. Ali Bagheri Kani, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs
|
24 November 202218th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
|
17th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
|
|
8.
|
Mr. Mehdi Safari, Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy
|
15 June 2022
|
Bilateral
|
Think Tanks/Others
Outgoing visits
|
Sl. No.
|
Name of dignitary
|
Duration
|
Purpose of visit
|
|
1.
|
Amb. Vijay Thakur Singh, Director General (ICWA)
|
14-17 January 2024
|
ICWA-IPIS Dialogue
|
|
2.
|
Dr. T.C.A. Raghavan, Director General (ICWA)
|
12-13 October 2019
|
ICWA-IPIS Dialogue
|
|
3.
|
Shri Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President ,ICCR
|
3 December 2018
|
Bilateral
|
|
4.
|
Shri Jayant Prasad, Director General, IDSA
|
23-26July 2016
|
Bilateral
|
|
5.
|
Shri Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General of India
|
June 2012
|
Bilateral, at the invitation of Supreme Audit Court of Iran (SAC)
|
