Welcome to Embassy of India, Tehran, Iran

India-Iran Relations

Embassy of India

Tehran

***

India-Iran Relations

Overview

India and Iran share a millennia long history of interactions. The contemporary relations between the two countries are marked by high level exchanges, commercial cooperation, connectivity paradigm and cultural and people to people ties.

Political relations;

2. India and Iran signed a friendship treaty on 15 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 New Delhi Declaration in 2003 enhanced the India-Iran cooperation. The two documents identified areas of cooperation and set the strategic vision for India-Iran partnership.

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 released, and 12 MOUs/Agreements were signed between India and Iran. The Trilateral Agreement on Trade, Transport and Transit between India, Iran and Afghanistan was also signed during the visit. President Rouhani visited India in February 2018, during which a joint statement titled “Towards Prosperity Through Greater Connectivity” was issued. The two sides signed 13 MOUs/Agreements during the visit, prominent among them being the contract for interim operations of Chabahar port and the MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Health and Medicine.

4. There have been two 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.

Recent Exchanges

5. In 2021, External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Tehran in July and August and called on President Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi. EAM was the first foreign dignitary to call on President Raisi, following his election. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian visited India in June 2022 and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the visit, MLAT on Civil and Commercial Matters was signed. In August 2022, Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways visited Iran, during which MoU on Recognition of Certificates of Competency in Unlimited Voyages between Iran and India was signed. Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council visited India in November 2021 for the Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan.

6. Prime Minister Modi and President Raisi met for the first time on the sidelines of the SCO Heads of State Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in September 2022, during which both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to bilateral cooperation, especially in trade and connectivity.

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 important sectors. The two countries also have cooperation at the level of law enforcement agencies. A bilateral meeting was held between India’s Narcotics Control Bureau and Iran’s Anti-Narcotics Police in May 2022 on Anti-Narcotics cooperation.

8. Both countries also engage at multilateral forums including at the United Nations and its Agencies as well as in regional initiatives including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Indian Ocean Rim Association, the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, Asian Parliamentary Assembly.

Connectivity

9. India is developing the first Phase of Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar. In 2021, India provided six mobile harbor cranes to the port. Since the operationalization in December 2018, the port has handled cargo from Russia, Brazil, Germany, Bangladesh, Thailand, Romania, UAE, Kuwait and Australia among other countries. Two rounds of trilateral meetings have been held between Iran, India and Uzbekistan on Joint Use of Chabahar Port in December 2020 and December 2021. India is also coordinating as a founding member of the International North South Transport Corridor and the Trilateral Agreement on Trade, Transport and Transit to expand regional connectivity.

Trade Relations

10. India and Iran have robust cooperation on trade with major Indian exports to Iran including rice, tea, sugar, pharmaceuticals, manmade staple fibers, electrical machinery, artificial jewelry etc. while major Indian imports from Iran consists of dry fruits, inorganic/organic chemicals, glassware, etc.

Humanitarian Assistance

11. India and Iran closely cooperated on COVID-19. India has provided 1,125,000 doses of vaccines and medical supplies to Iran. Malathion insecticide was provided to Iran in 2020 and 2021 to combat desert locusts. Earlier, India has provided 103 tons of disaster relief aid to Iran during the 2019 floods.

(As on 21st November 2022)

*****

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 16^th 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 M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President	04 August 2013	To attend swearing-in ceremony of President Dr. Hassan Rouhani
2.	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	11^th 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 Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways	18-21 August 2022	Bilateral
2.	Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister	5-6 August 2021	Bilateral
3.	Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister	7 July 2021	Bilateral
4.	Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister	22-23 December 2019	To attend 19^thIndia-Iran Joint Commission Meeting (JCM)
5.	Shri Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Shipping	2-4 December 2017	To represent India at the inauguration of the Chabahar Port
6.	Smt. Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister	2 December 2017	Bilateral
7.	Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping	5 August 2017	To attend swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Dr. Hassan Rouhani
8.	Shri M J Akbar, Minister of State for External Affairs	10-12 September 2016	Bilateral
9.	Smt. Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister	16-17 April2016	Bilateral
10.	Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas	8-10 April 2016	Bilateral
11.	Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women and Child Development	19-21January 2016	Special Guest in the 10^th International Energy Management Conference
12.	Shri. Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister	03-05 May 2013	17^th India-Iran Joint Commission Meeting (JCM)
13.	Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy	March 2012	Bilateral
14.	Shri S M Krishna, External Affairs Minister	May 15-17, 2010	14^th G-15 Summit
15.	Shri Pranab Mukherjee , External Affairs Minister	July 29-30, 2008	15^th NAM Ministerial Conference
16.	Shri Pranab Mukherjee , External Affairs Minister	February 6-7, 2007	Bilateral

Incoming visits

Sl. No.	Name of dignitary	Duration	Purpose of visit
1.	Dr. Hossein Amir Abdollahian	8-10 June 2022	Bilateral
2.	Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami, Defence Minister	2-4 February 2022	To attend the First Indian Ocean Defence Ministers Conclave and Aeroindia 2021
3.	Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister	14-17 January 2020	To attend Raisina Dialogue 2020
4.	Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister	13-14 May 2019	Bilateral
5.	Mr. Abbas Akhoundi, Minister of Roads & Urban Development	9-12 January 2019	Bilateral
6.	Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister	7-9 January 2019	To attend Raisina Dialogue 2019
7.	Dr. Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Minister of Health and Medical Education	12-14 December 2018	Bilateral
8.	Mr. Abbas Akhoundi, Minister of Roads & Urban Development	6-7 September 2018	Bilateral
9.	Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister	28 May 2018	Bilateral
10.	Mr. Bijan Zangeneh, Minister of Petroleum	11 April 2018	To attend the 16th International Energy Forum in New Delhi
11.	Mr. Mohammad Jahromi, Minister for Communications and IT	23-24 November 2017	To attend the Global Cyber Conference
12.	Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister	4 December 2016	To attend 6^th Heart of Asia-Istanbul process Ministerial Conference in Amritsar
13.	Dr. Abbas Akhoundi, Minister of Transport and Urban Development	27-30 September 2016	Bilateral
14.	Dr. Ali Tayyebnia, Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance	26-28 December 2015	18^th Joint Commission Meeting (JCM)
15.	Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister	13-14 August 2015	Bilateral
16.	Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping	May 5-7 2015	MoU on Chabahar
17.	Mr. Akbar Torkan, Presidential advisor and Secretary of high Council of Free Zones	12 -15 January 2015	To attend the Vibrant Gujarat Summit
18.	Dr. Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister	28 February, 2014	Bilateral
19.	Eng. Majid Namjoo, Minister of Energy	October 2012	To attend the Global Ministerial level “International Seminar on Energy Access”
20.	Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati, Senior Advisor to Supreme Leader on International Affairs	December 2011	Bilateral

NSA/Dy NSA visits

Outgoing visits

Sl. No.	Name of dignitary	Duration	Purpose of visit
1.	Shri Rajinder Khanna, Dy. NSA	18 December 2019	To attend 2^nd Six nation NSA talks
2.	Shri Ajit Doval, NSA	26 September 2018	To attend 1^st Six nation NSA talks

Secretary level

Outgoing visits

Sl. No.	Name of dignitary	Duration	Purpose of visit
1.	Shri Vijay Gokhale, Foreign Secretary	16 September 2019	16^th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
2.	Shri Gopal Krishna, Secretary (Shipping)	26 February 2019	To attend Chabahar Day Event 2019
3.	Shri T.S. Tirumurti, Secretary (ER)	23-24 October 2018	1^st Coordination Council Meeting on Trilateral Transit Agreement between Afghanistan, India & Iran (Chabahar Agreement)
4.	Shri Alok Srivastava, Special Secretary (Shipping)	3-6 September 2017	6^th Joint Committee Meeting on Ports and Maritime Cooperation
5.	Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary	16-17 May 2017	14^th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
6.	Rajiv Kumar, Secretary (Shipping)	November 31- December 2, 2015	Regarding Chabahar Port project
7.	Shri Rajeev Mehrishi, Finance Secretary	25-26 July 2015	Bilateral
8.	Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary	June 13-14, 2015	Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
9.	Smt. Nirupama Rao, Foreign Secretary	July 2011	9^th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)

Incoming visits

Sl. No.	Name of dignitary	Duration	Purpose of visit
1.	Mr. Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister	16 July 2018	15^th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
2.	Mr. Ebrahim Rahimpour, Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs	25 November 2013	11^th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)
3.	Dr. Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Oceania	October 2012	10^th Foreign Office Consultations (FoCs)

Think Tanks/Others

Outgoing visits

Sl. No.	Name of dignitary	Duration	Purpose of visit
1.	Dr. T.C.A. Raghavan, Director General (ICWA)	12-13 October 2019	ICWA-IPIS Dialogue
2.	Shri Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President ,ICCR	3 December 2018	Bilateral
3.	Shri Jayant Prasad, Director General, IDSA	23-26July 2016	Bilateral
4.	Shri Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General of India	June 2012	Bilateral, at the invitation of Supreme Audit Court of Iran (SAC)