Saeid Rasouli.
New Delhi: Iran, which shares its borders with Pakistan in its east and Afghanistan northeast and is a major player in the Middle East’s geopolitical landscape, is pivotal for India not just geopolitically, but from the economic perspective as well. Iran is the second-largest supplier of crude oil to India, which ships 425,000 barrels of oil per day to the country.
Now, Iran has intended to provide rail transit between India and Russia.
According to reports from Iran citing highly placed Iranian government sources, Saeid Rasouli, minister and managing director of Railway of Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIR), said India can use Iranian railway terminals and the rail route to transport goods to and from the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Russia.
According to the reports, Rasouli referred to the new 628-kilometre railway line in southeastern Iran, which is being built by the Iranian road ministry between Zahedan and Chabahar.
Rasouli also highlighted the Iranian government’s plan to expand the capacity of the Chabahar port from 2.5 to 8.5 million tonnes.
The Chabahar port is vital for India geostrategically as it enables India to bypass Pakistan in transporting goods to Afghanistan and boost India’s access to Iran. It also acts as a key gateway to the international “North-South Transport Corridor”. This corridor has sea, rail and road routes between India, Russia, Iran, Central Asia and Europe.
Moreover, at times when China is trying to build its market helping Pakistan to develop Gwadar port, which is less than 400km from Chabahar by road and 100km by sea, the Chabahar port assumes much more importance for New Delhi.
Also, for Iran, the Zahedan-Chabahar direction has a strategic character both at Iran’s national and regional levels since this route plays a special role within the North-South Transport Corridor.
