The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis), Ali Larijani, will visit India from December 3-4. He will meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss advancing bilateral ties between New Delhi and Tehran, and for collaborating in security measures in a post-2014 Afghanistan.
Although Iran had been wary of the Taliban for the past 15 years, with the reported opening of a Taliban office in Iran, things seem to be taking a new turn. The ongoing developments between India-Afghanistan-Iran will thus attract considerable gaze from around the world.
India imports 10-15% of its energy needs from Iran, and furthermore, the oil-rich country’s Chabahar port presents New Delhi with a gateway to the Central Asian market. India-Iran trade in 2010-11 stood at $13.4 billion; to bypass the U.S. and European sanctions, Iran has agreed to accept 45% of its oil payments in Indian Rupees – which could boost Indian exports to Iran in the future.