China - Iran - Russia
Iran unavoidable
So here are Russia and India united by a direct transport route through Iran. Three countries with civilizations that were once antagonistic, now united. In the immediate future, Iran will be able to cross the nuclear threshold without hindrance. It is a part of the Pax Americana that is collapsing. But more than that, it is a transcivilizational project for a redesigned Asia in a new world order where the West no longer has a monopoly on wisdom and power.
Three months after the first U.S. sanctions against Russia, the International North-South Corridor (INSTC) linking Russia to India through Iran, which has remained a traffic-free dotted line for twenty years, found a use in June 2022 with the test transit of two 40-foot containers loaded with laminated wood sheets, totaling 41 tons, loaded on an Iran Shipping Line vessel. A first welcomed by the three partners.
Once the Russian and Iranian railroad networks have been upgraded, this corridor will allow Russia to increase its trade with India, notwithstanding the sanctions imposed on it by the West. And this in less time and at a lower cost than by the Western route which bypasses Europe. At the heart of this route is the unavoidable Iran, which is crossed from the port of Anzali on the Caspian Sea to the port of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman. A port where the Indian government and private sector have invested heavily. In addition, through this channel, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan bordering the Caspian Sea, parties to this agreement, find access to the sea1 .
The symbolic opening of the corridor testifies to the warming of relations between India and Iran. A rapprochement that has taken concrete form with the official visit to India from June 8 to 10 of the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was kind enough to receive him, a special mark of consideration. During the meeting, Narendra Modi said: "Our relations have been beneficial to both our countries and have promoted regional security and prosperity." He added: India "appreciated Iran's role in facilitating India's medical assistance to Afghanistan, including the provision of COVID-19 vaccines to Afghan nationals residing in Iran." According to the Teheran Times, the two countries have been exploring what measures would increase bilateral trade, with Iran's ambassador to India going so far as to say that Tehran hopes to increase the volume of trade between the two countries tenfold in the medium to long term2 .
Echoing this, to the north, Russian Transport Minister Valery Savelyev emphasizes the role that Iran has to play in its logistics since the trade chains his country used were broken as a result of sanctions imposed by a US-led West. The INSTC is the main alternative he prioritizes, while acknowledging that there will be much to do in terms of land connectivity3 .
In addition to this, for Iran, the projects that will be implemented with China to give substance to the comprehensive cooperation agreement signed in March 2021. On June 2, 2022, the two countries congratulated each other on the development of their strategic relations, welcoming their cooperation in international organizations, and a few days later, on June 29, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China announced its support for Iran's application to the group of emerging powers, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)4 .
Courted in the north as well as in the south, modernized and opened up, able to access markets totaling nearly three billion people, Iran will be able to circumvent Western sanctions. As a friend of three nuclear powers and two permanent members of the Security Council, it will be able to carry out, discreetly, the constitution of a deterrent force. It is a whole part of the Pax Americana that is collapsing, a backlash against the erratic policy followed by the United States in support of Ukraine and its government.
This is true for the immediate future, but the link that is taking shape has a significance other than economic. It brings together and brings harmony to three countries with long antagonistic civilizations: Eastern Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Here they are, spurred on by American prohibitions, demands and sanctions, who have the wisdom to override their antagonisms. As Andrew Korybko writes, this path is an example of "transcivilizational" integration, something the West could not have imagined. Admittedly, we are far from the emergence of a North-South pole of influence, as Iran likes to announce, but this shows that where respect between states finds its place, the clash of civilizations predicted by Huntington is not inevitable. On the contrary, the contradictions he denounces, when overcome, give rise to a new world order where the West no longer has a monopoly on wisdom and power, but where a redesigned Asia will join in our time what was its place, in the front ranks5. It is a whole part of the Pax America that is collapsing.
(1) India and Iran reaffirm cooperation on Chabahar port, IRNA, 10/6/2022
(2) India-Iran Ties Are Ripe for a Reset? The Diplomat, 06/2022
(3) Russia, Iran and India create a third pole of influence in international relations, Almanar, 23/05/2022
(4) Iran, China Mull Comprehensive Cooperation Deal, Tasnim News Agency,02/06/2022
(5) The North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a transcivilizational integration project, Geopolitika, 17/04/2022
