The energy-hungry India may justify its red-carpet welcome to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to India by citing the centuries-old ties between the two countries. But it is a fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has already earned a place with Hugo Chevas of Venezuela by his repeated anti-US rhetoric though in the process his country is becoming increasingly isolated one.
Dominating Iran-India diplomacy is the mirage of a pipeline that would ferry natural gas from Iran across Pakistan to India. Several crucial details of the proposed project, estimated to cost more than $7 billion, are yet to be resolved, including the price of gas; whether Iran will guarantee its supply and Pakistan and Afghanistan would not hinder the supply to India. The Project has been reduced to a merely paper exercise.
The only visible outcome of the few-hour long visit of the Iranian President was that it was a snub to the U.S. by India as the U.S. reviles the Iranian leader. On the other hand, the political compulsion for the India was that India has a good number of Shia Muslims and Iran is a Shia Muslim country. The ruling UPA in India headed by Manmohan Singh cannot annoy the Shia population and at the same time, it wanted to keep its ruling partner the Communist Party (Marxist) in good humour.