Foreign Relations of India: The opportunities and Constraints facing the Islamic Republic of Iran

To examine Indian foreign policy towards the outside world, it can be divided into three periods: In the first period, which includes 1950-1960s its foreign policy was influenced by influential leaders of the first period of independence, Nehru and Gandhi that moved it into an ambitious idealistic. In the second period which include the interval between 1970 and 1980, India's foreign policy saw a degree of realism, but it also adhered to the fundamental principles of the NAM and the Third Worldism. One of the characteristics of this era is the anti-Western and anti-colonial image of India; supported the Palestinian people vigorously and was reluctant to cooperate diplomatically and politically with Israel. The third period in Indian foreign policy began in 1990 with the collapse of the former Soviet Union as one of the two main pillars of the international system during the Cold War and is still ongoing. In this period, India was trying to connect with all major powers in the international system through the strategy of the bridging power. Thereby providing the political, economic and security interests it needs. At the regional level, as well as reducing tensions with neighbors, especially China and Pakistan, the most restrained in border disputes has been shown.
The relationship of this country with the Middle East and Iran has also been a great deal of arsenal. Although the history of Iran-India relations is as much as history. In fact, Iran was neighboring India by 1947. After the Indian Subcontinent collapsed, Pakistan was buffered between Iran and India. During this period, relations between the two countries have been faced with various ups and downs. For example, before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, they co-operated in the framework of the NAM. After 1991 and the change in the Indian foreign policy approach, relations between the two countries have gone up and down. While India at the IAEA Board of Governors, considered NPT as a form of discriminatory action But it contributed to the sanctions imposed by the Security Council against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
However, the main question posed by this study is that the most important opportunities and constraints of Indian foreign relations to the Islamic Republic of Iran?
India's foreign policy orientation with regional and Trans regional powers and patterns of friendship and hostility derived from this relationship can have opportunities for Iran. The transformation of India into a great power and the rule of multipolar space in the long run will ensure Iran's national interests. Therefore, this kind of Indian attitude creates opportunities for Iran Especially that India is not willing to have trans-regional powers in its periphery. Iran also does not want the presence and influence of trans- regional and regional powers such as NATO and Pakistan in its peripheral regions, including Afghanistan (Tiwari, 2015:6). Having a geopolitical position and a common border with Pakistan, Iran has become an historic opportunity for India to be trying to control Pakistan with its proximity to Iran. Disagreements between India and China on the presence of trans-regional powers in Asia create new opportunities for Iran's foreign policy Because Iran, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, did not want to see the presence of trans-regional powers such as the United States and NATO in peripheral areas, including in the Middle East and Central Asia Caucasus.
Although Indian foreign relations create opportunities for Iran, it creates restrictions for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Increasing the power of India will cause serious presence of this country in the periphery of Iran. At any moment, the relationship between Iran and India may be moving into deterioration, notably because of the proximity of India to the West, the United States and Israel to make India a cooperator to a rival for the national interests of Iran and to work with other countries to impose restrictions on Iran (Mohan, 2013: 2-4). India's close relations with the United States has become a major concern for Iran. Under the influence of the close relationship between the two countries, in 2005, India agreed to the UN Security Council with a positive vote to transfer Iran's nuclear issue from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the UN Security Council. Similarly, the close and positive relationship between India and Saudi Arabia, with geoeconomic, geoculture and geopolitics considerations, creates restrictions for the relationship between Iran and India.
The type of foreign relations of India and the choice of target points in its foreign policy will have positive and negative consequences for the Islamic Republic of Iran. For example, while Israel and America are among the enemies of Iran, after 1991, India moved towards improving relations with both countries and became strategic partners for both countries. India’s excessive close relations to Amarica led to refer Iran's case from the IAEA Board of Governors to the UN Security Council on Iran's nuclear issue. The issue that has taken energy of Iran's foreign policy for nearly a decade to resolve it and become a normally international issue. The improvement of the relationship between India and Saudi Arabia, as it is a rival country of Iran in the Middle East region in terms of the geo-economics of the oil exporter, Geoculture (a different view of Islam than the revolutionary Shiite of Iran) and geopolitics (a different view of the security and the presence and influence of powers A region by two countries) could create restrictions for Iran. However, all foreign relations of India are not limitation for the Islamic Republic of Iran And the country's orientation towards Pakistan and China could provide opportunities for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Other advantages of Indian foreign relations include the efforts to create a multipolar world, a positive and traditional relationship with Russia, as well as pessimism about the presence of transatlantic forces in Afghanistan. Which, with Iran's strategic vision, has overlapped the international system and provided the opportunity for more of the two countries to come together.