India aims to take ties with Iran to strategic level

NEW DELHI: Despite the recent setbacks in the relationship, New Delhi is going all out to convince Iran that it wants to elevate its ties with Tehran to the strategic level. This was conveyed to authorities in Iran by foreign secretary Nirupama Rao during her visit to Tehran last week.

In her meeting with Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary Saeed Jalili, Rao said "historical commonalities between the two nations require expansion of strategic cooperation between the two countries''.

It became evident earlier this year that India was trying to undo the acrimony of the recent past when NSA Shivshankar Menon, on a visit to Iran, told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that India was looking to establish comprehensive relations with Iran, including strategic ties.

Rao was accompanied by Y K Sinha, joint secretary ( Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) on the three-day visit to Tehran for the 9th round of foreign office consultations at the invitation of her counterpart Mohammad Ali Fathollahi, Iran's deputy foreign minister for Asia & Oceania.

Rao also called on foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi during the visit which also saw the two sides discussing ways to counter piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Tehran proposed joint patrolling by the two countries to check the menace.

Rao's discussions covered issues like global terrorism, energy security, the North-South Transport Corridor, developments in Afghanistan and regional security and stability. It was agreed that the next meeting of the India-Iran Joint Commission will be held in Tehran. Both sides exchanged the Instrument of Ratification for the Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners signed in July 2010, operationalizing the agreement.