The US and allied Sheikhdoms are crying wolf as their own record in creating or facilitating the ongoing mess in the Middle-East and the terror industry far outstrips that of Iran

Diplomatic sabre-rattling on the part of Washington and Tehran following the unwarranted killing of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani has led to a strange referencing of “Delhi” in the leadership statements of both nations to posit counter-narratives. US President Donald Trump has fronted his manufactured outrage against Iran and Soleimani in particular to justify his actions. He declared that Soleimani was the “world’s number one terrorist leader.” Trump tweeted, “Soleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terrorist plots as far away as Delhi and London.”

Meanwhile, the erudite Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, postulated a counter to slam the bullying tactics of the Trump administration by asking, “How do they feel about people chanting in the streets of Iraq, in the streets of Moscow, in the streets of New Delhi and everywhere else that they should leave, how do they feel about that? That’s the price for arrogance, for ignorance, for lack of respect.” In both these statements, “Delhi” was mentioned when actually, the official statement on the brewing situation in the Persian Gulf remained mired in diplomatic caution and ropewalk.

The last visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to India in February 2018 had led to the issuance of an official joint statement titled, “Towards prosperity with greater connectivity.” It noted among other strategic imperatives, “They (Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rouhani) called on the international community to end selective or partial approaches to combat terrorism. In this regard, it stressed on the need to make every effort to reach an agreement and conclude a comprehensive convention on international terrorism at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).”

Importantly, India “reaffirmed its support for full and effective implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which has been endorsed by the UN Security Council and is a crucial contribution to the non-proliferation framework and international peace, stability and security.” This was something that was unilaterally torn apart by Trump. Singularly, he imagined ghosts in the Iran nuclear deal and in the adherence of Iranian commitments. This was very much in contrast to the views of other signatories to the deal and multilateral agencies responsible for overlooking the pact.

Clearly “Delhi”, too, wasn’t aligned to Trump’s view on Iran but India’s own national and strategic interests forced it to not express its opinion. Indian discomfiture in abiding by earlier US sanctions against buying oil from Iran had led to delicate discussions, which managed temporary waivers. Ultimately, India complied, not fully convinced about the US narrative on Iran but because larger stakes were involved.

The Iranian “terror” in Delhi, as mentioned by Trump, could only refer to the 2012 car bomb attack on the then Israeli Defence Attaché’s wife in Delhi. Back then, a few suspects were arrested and interrogated by the Indian police and the judicial system but no one was convicted.

Two questions persisted about this incident. First, if compelling evidence was there to nail Iranian complicity, then surely the US-Israeli combine would have had enough heft and stakes in India to see through the conviction? Second, back then, India had just replaced China as the biggest market for Iranian oil.  Why would an economically struggling Iran risk offending India with terror attacks? Yet, the taint survived and resurfaced in Trump’s questionable attempts to slam Soleimani as a “terrorist”, who conducted operations from “London to Delhi.”

To understand the situation, context is of prime importance. General Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force, which had been at the forefront of advancing Iran’s strategic sectarian interests in an interventionist manner. His forces, along with a host of supporting militias, played an invaluable role in routing the Islamic State (IS). In the bargain, the reclaimed territories passed in favour of his co-sectarian and anti-US ally, Bashar-al-Assad’s Syrian Government. This resulted in the parallel defeat of America, Arab Sheikhdom-sponsored militias and forces both in Iraqi-Syrian lands and Yemen.

However, almost all terror attacks across the world since 9/11 can be traced to the pernicious support extended by the ideological fount of the US allies in Arab sheikhdoms and not to Tehran. Even beyond the Middle-East, terror set-ups like the Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al-Shabab in Somalia and the Taliban in Afghanistan among others are all irreconcilably opposed to Shiite Iran. They find financial and ideological succour from the Arab Sheikhdoms.

Now, Soleimani’s Quds Force is believed to have eight directorates, including one cluster that conjoins the Pakistan-Afghanistan-India theatre. However, the realistic focus of Soleimani’s concerns may have been directed towards the Middle Eastern theatre. Even in this specific directorate, the Shia interest is most vulnerable in Pakistan and Afghanistan and not in India.

The Israeli tact of covert global actions is an established practice with officially sanctified “hits” to neutralise its stated enemies. Murmurs were rife about the Delhi attack being a reciprocal Iranian revenge for Israeli covert operations to “take out” Iranian scientists. Even if true and unacceptable on Indian soil, it does not qualify linearly as bringing terror infrastructure into India but as an incidental part of the ongoing cloak-and-dagger between Iran and Israel as it plays out globally.

If anything, Iranian and Indian interests converge strategically in the sensitive realm of Afghanistan (much to the consternation of Pakistan) as also in the development of a counterpoise to the Chinese built facility at Gwadar in Pakistan and in the joint development of the Chabahar Port in Iran as an alternative artery to Central Asia and Afghanistan.

Besides, India has had several decades of experience in understanding and documenting the terror industry and its nurseries, benefactors and routes. In such a long time, it has never recorded or even expressed concern about any possible Iran angle on terror as yet. Certainly, the truth is somewhere in between as neither can an interventionist force like the Quds Force be expected to abide by international rules, nor were there any mega protests of mourning, as has been claimed. But the US and its allied Sheikhdoms are crying wolf as their own record in creating or facilitating the ongoing mess in the Middle-East and in fuelling the terror industry in general far outstrips that of Iran.

(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands)