According to sources from Tehran Iran's President Hassan Rouhani will visit India this week for three days. Meanwhile Iran's local media reported that Mr. Rouhani is due to leave for India on Thursday to discuss "the latest regional and global developments". Accordingly India and Iran have collaborated on key projects, most notably the Chabahar port in south-eastern Iran that was inaugurated in December.
Sources have stated that the port has been touted as a way for India to establish trade routes that bypass its rival Pakistan, but the project has seen multiple delays. Furthermore India has been a key purchaser of Iranian oil and gas, and maintained trade ties even as international sanctions were imposed on Iran over its nuclear program between 2012 and 2016.
Presently there have been tensions in the
relationship, with the local media in India reporting frustrations over delays
in awarding a contract to develop a major gas field known as Farzad B in the
Persian Gulff, that led India to announce it was reducing its oil imports from
Iran in protest in March 2017, leading Tehran to say it was restricting credit
lines to India.
