India's Trade with Iran

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During the years that followed, the Western powers reinstated the deposed Shah of Iran to the throne, so as to regain access to the Iranian Oil fields. The years that followed brought to Iran an excessive influence of the United States, and in-turn many facets of western culture including the concept of a secular state. However, this secular state was administered by Shah Reza Pahlavi as a dictatorship. The Shah used force to seize land and other assets from the mosques and other landed classes. This resulted in resentment from both the religious leaders and the wealthy of the country. Thus, the oil boom of Iran was overshadowed by the grievances of the largely conservative population of the country that favoured the opinions of its religious leaders over that of the Western powers. (Cordesman, 1999, pp. 20 - 23). This led to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which resulted in the Shah being overthrown by the people of Iran in favour of a religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

The United States of America, imposed sanctions on the Government of Iran in 1979, just after Khomeini came to power and the US Embassy in Tehran was run over by revolutionaries. Soon these sanctions were expanded to include private enterprises operating in Iran putting restrictions on industries like shipping, banking, petroleum, insurance, and international trade. As an immediate effect, the sanctions on Iran led to the Energy Crisis of 1979, due to which the United States began to focus on procuring oil from other OPEC nations like Iraq and Saudi Arabia. These sanctions were further expanded by future US Governments, most notably by the Clinton Administration via the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996.

During Reza Pahlavi’s rule in Iran, the United States had provided nuclear facilities to Iran under the Atoms for Peace programme of then President of the United States of America Dwight D. Eisenhower, the programme also supplied these facilities to Israel and Pakistan. As a return of favour Iran had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968. The new Islamic Republic of Iran, however was not considered by the United States and other Western countries as a friendly nation, and although the Khomeini regime (1979 – 1989) was not in favour of nuclear armament ("IISS", 2011), his successors started to redevelop the programme.

In March 2006, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported uncertainties in Iran’s nuclear use and raised concerns over the country’s nuclear programme (ElBaradei, 2006). By the end of July 2006, the United Nations imposed sanctions over Iran citing its nuclear programme and demanded that Iran cease Uranium Enrichment. These sanctions were applied on December 23, 2016 as the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmedinejad refused to heed to the demands.

Timeline of the road to sanctions []:

1953

CIA plays hand in overthrow of popular Iran prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh. Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi is restored to power

1957

An agreement on civil nuclear cooperation is signed between the United States and Iran

1968

Iran signs the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty, permits Iran to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes

1979

An Islamic revolution in Iran dethrones the Shah. Ayatollah Khomeini becomes supreme religious guide

1980

US cuts diplomatic ties with Iran and bans most trade with it

1984

US lists Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism

1988

US warship Vincennes mistakenly shoots Iranian passenger plane over Gulf, all 290 aboard are killed

2002

US president George Bush declares Iran, Iraq and North Korea an 'axis of evil.' CIA accuses Iran of operating a secret nuclear weapons program

2002

An exiled Iranian group reveals that Iran has two previously undisclosed nuclear facilities under construction

2006

US says it will join multilateral talks with Iran if it suspends nuclear enrichment

2008

US Under Secretary of State Bill Burns takes part in nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva

2009

US, Britain and France announce that Iran is building a nuclear enrichment site at Fordow. Iran claims that it had disclosed to the site to the IAEA earlier

2012

US law goes into effect giving President Obama power to sanction foreign banks, including central banks of its allies, if they don't reduce imports of Iranian oil

2013

Hassan Rouhani is elected as President of Iran. His pitch is based on improving Iran's economy through better world relations

2013

Iran and the six major powers reach an interim pact called Joint Plan of Action under which Iran agrees to limit its nuclear work in exchange for limited relief in sanctions

2015

An agreement is reached between Iran and the six powers. The agreement is called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Under the agreement, Iran slashes the number of its centrifuges and agrees to disable a key part of its Arak Nuclear reactor. In return, US, UN and EU sanctions on Iran are eased

2016

IAEA confirms that Iran has taken the necessary steps as stated under the JCPOA. The US then lifts nuclear-related sanctions on Iran

Iran under Sanctions

The Iranian economy even under sanctions was in an upswing, with a GDP (PPP) of approximately $1.4 trillion, it accounted for 1.5% of the global GDP ranking it in the top 20 countries by GDP. Although Iran has an inherent advantage of large amounts of proven oil and gas reserves of 26,850 billion standard cubic meters, the second largest proven gas reserves,