India could play a leading role in defusing US-Iran tensions, by encouraging the United States to return to the nuclear deal of 2016, Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif said on Friday.
Highlighting the role India can play in bringing US back to the table, he said that India, “is a dear friend of Iran and has good relations with the US”, and it could help start a dialogue.
He insisted that Iran was not interested in negotiating a new deal with the US, and wanted the country to honour the deal that US President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, reported The Indian Express.
Trump had walked out of the agreement and reinstated US sanctions on Iran and is trying to negotiate a new deal that would place curbs on its nuclear programme.
“It was a deal between Iran, US, seven other major members of the international community, and more than that, it became a (UN) Security Council resolution,” Zarif was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
He also said that the US sanctions had ruined potential for trade and investment between the two countries.
The bilateral relations between the two countries have nosedived since the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by the US and the subsequent airstrikes launched by Iran.
Zarif also maintained that Iran and India need to work together on the rail connectivity to Afghanistan for the development of Chabahar project, reported India.com.
The Chabahar Port is being developed to serve as an alternative trade route between India and Afghanistan.
(With inputs from The Indian Express, India.com)
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