Iran-Israel War: Many decades have passed since India made friends with the two most powerful countries of Middle East Asia. One was the world’s most powerful Islamic country, Iran, and the other was the world’s most powerful Jewish country, Israel. India’s relations with both were excellent. Even now, both the countries have good friendship with India, but now that the war between Iran and Israel has started, the biggest problem facing India is whom should it support. If he supports Iran then Israel is angry and if he supports Israel then Iran is angry. In such a situation, there is a well on one side and a ditch on the other side. But the question is that if this war becomes bigger then India will have to choose its side and stand with one country or the other.
Before answering the question with whom will India stand between Israel and Iran, let us try to understand the fact as to why India is entering the war between Israel and Iran. So the reason for this is the attack on Israel by Iran on April 13, in which Iranian forces hijacked an Israeli ship on which 17 Indian citizens were aboard. Now when Indian citizens were kidnapped, it was obvious that the Ministry of External Affairs had to intervene. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar spoke to Iran’s Foreign Minister Husain Amir-Abdullahian and then it was decided that the Indian delegation would be able to talk to the Indian citizens trapped under Iran’s occupation. However, even before this, India had issued an advisory to its citizens living in Iran and Israel and advised them to stay in touch with the Indian Embassy and be alert about their safety. Not only this, India had also advised Indians traveling to Iran and Israel not to travel till further notice.
If there is a war, whom will India choose?
Now the real question is what will India do if this war gets bigger? Will India stand with Iran, with whom both friendship and business is old? Or will India stand with Israel, whose weapons are also present in large quantities in the Indian Army. The only answer to this is that India will try to remain neutral. If it is a matter of choosing a side, then one will choose the one where the loss is less. To understand where the loss and benefit will be more or less, let us also understand India’s relationship with Iran and Israel. First of all let’s talk about Israel. According to the document available on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs, India recognized Israel as a country on September 17, 1950, but trade and political relations between the two countries began in 1992. However, even before this, when India fought the 1971 war against Pakistan, Israel had helped India with arms.
How are India’s relations with Israel?
India has its embassy in Israel’s capital Tel Aviv and Israel’s embassy in New Delhi. Apart from this, there are also consulates in Mumbai and Bengaluru. After Russia, Israel is the second country from which India buys its weapons. In 1997, Israeli President Ezer Weizman came to India for the first time. Then he met President of India Shankar Dayal Sharma, Vice President KR Narayanan and Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. In the year 2000, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani went to Israel and was the first Indian minister to do so. Then in the same year, Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh also went to Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited India in 2003 and was the first Israeli Prime Minister to do so. Even when there was a terrorist attack on Mumbai in 2008, Israel had talked about sending its team and supporting the ongoing fight against terrorism. He has been continuously talking about standing with India against terrorism.
In November 2014, the then Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh visited Israel. Israel’s Agriculture Minister and Defense Minister also visited India in January and February in 2015. After this, in October 2015, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee visited Israel. In 2017, PM Modi also visited Israel. He is the first Indian Prime Minister to do so. In January 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited India. During this time, there were 130 delegates with him and this was the largest delegation till date. Then PM Modi himself broke the protocol and reached the airport to receive him. The whole world knows about the defense deal made between Israel and India in the last few years and when Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on Israel, the whole world saw India standing step by step with Israel and even now on the issue of Hamas. So India stands with Israel only.
How are India’s relations with Iran?
If we talk about Iran, relations between India and Iran started from 15 March 1950. The Shah of Iran visited India in 1956 and the Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited Iran in 1959. Then in 1974 Indira Gandhi visited Iran. After him, Prime Minister Morarji Desai also visited Iran in 1977, in response to which the Shah of Iran visited India in 1978. When the Islamic Revolution took place in Iran in 1979, leaders of India and Iran kept visiting each other. Even now the relations between India and Iran are very smooth. At the same time, if we talk about business, India buys crude oil from Iran. India imports about 84% of its crude oil consumption and about 10% of this oil is purchased from Iran. Talking in figures, India buys oil worth about Rs 86,082 crore from Iran every year. At the same time, Iran buys goods worth about Rs 24 thousand crores from India. Apart from this, to maintain its trade relations with Afghanistan, India is also helping Iran in building Chabahar Port in Iran.
India has been stuck in a similar situation before
In such a situation, Israel is necessary for India and so is Iran. This is not the first time that India has faced such a challenge to choose between Iran and Israel. Even before this, in February 2012, the wife of an Israeli diplomat was attacked in the Indian capital New Delhi. Israel had blamed Iran for this attack. Even in the year 2021, the ambassadors of Iran and Israel in India clashed with each other. Then India had advised both to work peacefully because the loss in the war between the two countries is not only in business or weapons. The biggest loss is of humans because the data of the Ministry of External Affairs says that there are about 18 thousand people from India in Israel. At the same time, the number of Indians in Iran is between 5 thousand to 10 thousand. There are about 90 lakh Indians who work in Gulf and Western Asia.
India’s biggest concern is that if the war between Iran and Israel becomes bigger then the biggest danger will come to Indians. Rest 80 percent of India’s oil comes from Western Asia and if the war escalates, it is natural that this oil supply will be affected and then oil will become expensive in India. In such a situation, India is trying its best to stop this war and many other countries of the world are also trying to end the war and maintain peace. Only Iran and Israel have to take the final decision as to what they want.