The Second India-Iran-Armenia Trilateral Consultations were held in New Delhi in December 2024. By holding their second consultation in two years India, Iran and Armenia are giving a shape to a new minilateral that could advance India’s connectivity with Eurasia.

This trilateral was formed in April 2023 when the three sides met for the first time in the Armenian capital Yerevan. During the first summit India, Iran and Armenia focused on cooperating on economic issues, regional communication, cultural areas and people-to-people contacts.

Connectivity has emerged as a key factor in this grouping. Iran has proposed use of its roads and railways in facilitating Armenia’s connectivity with India. Iran and Armenia share border and enjoy close relations. The trilateral with Iran and Armenia offers India an opportunity to further strengthen ties with Armenia. For India, having being proactively involved in developing connectivity routes to Central Asia, Eurasia and Europe, cooperation with Iran and Armenia builds upon these previous initiatives. At present India is involved in the Chabahar Port project and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

Both these initiatives allow India access to regions like Central Asia and Eurasia through Iran as direct land connectivity is difficult due to Pakistan’s hostility towards India. The India-Iran-Armenia trilateral would further boost the prospects of strengthening India’s connectivity with Eurasia.

Recent conflicts in the Middle East have put brakes, at least temporarily, on India’s certain connectivity projects. India had announced the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) during the G20 Summit at New Delhi in September 2023. This corridor connects India to Europe via Middle Eastern countries through a combination of maritime routes and rail networks. However, with the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war and later attacks by the Yemen-based Houthis against commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea resulted in India’s plans to be put on hold. While Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire recently, it is uncertain how long the ceasefire could last. Further, volatile security situation in Syria implies that the operationalization of the IMEC could be delayed.

In this uncertain scenario the India-Iran-Armenia trilateral could provide an alternative route to India to develop connectivity with Europe through Eurasia. India’s cooperation with Iran and Armenia, much like the Chabahar Port and the INSTC, would strengthen India’s overall outreach to the region. Central Asia and Eurasia are among the lesser focused regions in India’s foreign policy. India’s connectivity projects would play a supportive role in consolidating its ties with these regions.  

This trilateral initiative is not only intended to explore options for India to develop connectivity to Eurasia. India’s engagements with Iran and Armenia have a strong political undertone as well. As regards to Iran, India has managed to maintain steady ties despite several challenges. India has successfully balanced its ties with Iran on two fronts. One, Iran’s rivalry with the Arab Gulf States. Two, Iran’s conflict with the West and Israel. While continuing engagements with Iran, India is simultaneously progressing in strengthening its ties with the Arab Gulf States, the West and Israel. While India has had to stop buying oil from Iran following sanctions from the United States in 2019, projects like the Chabahar Port and the INSTC have ensured that the India-Iran ties do not hit a dead end. In the current conflict in the Middle East, Iran has been confronting Israel through support to Hamas and through proxies like the Hezbollah and the Houthis. Israel’s actions against Iran and its proxies have weakened Iran. However despite these fault lines in the Middle Eastern politics, India has taken a balanced approach and has continued engaging with Iran.

With Armenia, India has had centuries old civilizational ties. However, in the contemporary period, India’s ties with Armenia have been underdeveloped. Only with Armenia emerging as one of India’s leading destinations for defence exports, have the relations between the two started strengthening. Deepening engagements with Armenia are not only directed towards diversifying India’s defence exports. For India, Armenia is an important diplomatic partner as well. Armenia has always supported India’s position on Jammu and Kashmir. For its part, India’s support to Armenia, particularly supplying defence equipment, is intended to counter Azerbaijan in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Countering Azerbaijan implies a direct deterrence to Türkiye and Pakistan as both are strong allies of Azerbaijan. The two supported Azerbaijan during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2020.

Through this trilateral, India achieves a number of objectives. One, India is continuing its engagements with Iran despite the latter being the target of hostility from the West, Israel and the Gulf Arab States. Two, India gets an opportunity to expand its footprint in Eurasia by cooperation with Armenia. Three, the India-Iran-Armenia trilateral facilitates India to counter the influence of adversaries like Pakistan and Türkiye at international level. It implies that this trilateral offers India multi-faceted benefits.

Mr. Niranjan Marjani is a political analyst and researcher based in Vadodara, India.