Abstract
When senior diplomats in Vienna announced the lifting of sanctions against Iran after verifying from the UN that Tehran had complied with its obligations under the nuclear accord, new opportunities opened up for Iran and Pakistan to embark upon enhanced cooperation and resume the pending projects between them. Iran, which had been smarting under nuclear sanctions and global isolation, urgently felt the need to compensate for the lost time and restart the stalled energy projects. But little of substance has, so far, materialized . Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit along with the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) to Iran in January, 2016, provided a good beginning in bilateral contacts but has proved to be merely a handshake and a smile. Similarly, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s visit to Pakistan in March was a difficult one. Pakistan and Iran signed MoUs, committing to take the minuscule bilateral trade to $5 billion and revive the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, but the way Pakistan played up the Yadav’s issue did not just show a diplomatic faux pas on the part of Pakistan but was also an indicator of the level of distrust between the two countries. Contrast these visits to Modi’s visit to Tehran in May 2016. Iran and India signed the transit agreement for the Chabahar Port and latter arranged a $750 million payment to Iran owed to it from previous oil purchases. Moreover, Iran, Afghanistan and India signed a transit agreement between them.