Iran aims to restart the dormant Iran-India Joint Trade Working Group and broaden financial and maritime links, despite ongoing sanctions and payment restrictions, as both nations seek to bolster commercial ties.
Iran is pushing to revive a dormant trade mechanism with India as both sides look for ways to widen commercial ties despite sanctions and payment constraints. Mohammad Sadegh Mofatteh, Iran’s deputy minister for commercial affairs, said the Iran-India Joint Trade Working Group had met three times before 2015 and had previously played a constructive role in expanding business links, but had been left inactive by political tensions and sanctions.
Speaking in a meeting with Amardeep Singh Bhatia, India’s deputy minister of commerce and industry, Mofatteh said reactivating the forum could help remove practical barriers to trade and give the two governments a regular channel for discussing commercial disputes. The revival would place the group under the responsibility of the countries’ commercial and industry deputies, he said.
Mofatteh also pointed to banking as a central hurdle and urged a broader role for India’s UCO Bank, which has already handled limited rupee trade involving Iran under sanctions-compliant arrangements. LiveMint reported that the bank has continued to process permitted transactions through special rupee vostro accounts, with trade volumes remaining limited but open. Iran wants those services extended beyond current channels to cover industry, mining, electricity, construction and services, with settlements in Indian rupees.
He also pressed for a regular shipping line between Indian ports and Chabahar, the Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman that Tehran sees as strategically important for trade and investment. According to Mofatteh, there is no consistent service at present, only occasional cargo movement on the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line. He said a weekly or bi-weekly route could help draw investors and support the port’s development. Recent trade figures suggest the urgency: industry reports have shown that commerce between India and Iran has remained uneven under sanctions, with bilateral trade falling sharply in parts of 2023 and then easing further from earlier highs.
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