As conflict in the Middle East escalates following US-Israeli attacks on Iran, the opposition in India is questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his “silence” over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Speaking alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in New Delhi on Monday, Prime Minister Modi expressed concern over escalating conflicts around the world and said the current situation in West Asia remains a serious concern. Prime Minister Modi said that India has always supported peace and stability and believes that disputes should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.
But neither Prime Minister Modi nor any of his cabinet colleagues issued a statement on Khamenei’s death until this report was filed.
The Congress party argued that the Union government’s silence on the “targeted assassination” of Khamenei and other Iranian leaders demonstrated its abdication of moral leadership and its reluctance to say anything remotely critical of the US and Israel.
“This is a complete betrayal of everything India stood for. India has never looked so weak before,” Congress chief Pawan Khera said in a post.
Modi talks to Netanyahu
Last night, Prime Minister Modi spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the US-Israeli attacks and called for an early end to hostilities and expressed India’s concerns over the latest developments. PM Modi also spoke to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and strongly criticized the Iranian attacks.
However, there was no official statement from India on Khamenei’s death.
Clearly, amid the conflict in Iran, the Modi government appears to have shifted its focus from “civilizational ties and trade (such as the Chabahar port) to urgent calls for de-escalation, dialogue and civilian security.
But why this shift? Aam Aadmi Party President and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh recalled how Prime Minister Modi declared one day of national mourning after the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed along with seven others in a helicopter crash in Azerbaijan in May 2024.
“Modi ji, what happened today? You declared national mourning for the death of Iran’s president. You didn’t even have the guts to tweet a single condolence on the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei because it was America’s fault,” Singh said in the post.
India, experts said, appears to be maintaining a “strategic autonomy” approach — balancing its historic friendship with Iran and deepening security partnerships with Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Prime Minister Modi was in Israel last month, where he received a warm welcome from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other members of parliament.
And this is not the first shift in ties. Over the years, the India-Iran relationship has been a geopolitical rollercoaster that has moved from Cold War friction to strategic partnership and now to a complex balancing act under the Modi government.
To understand India-Iran ties, let’s look at the historical ties that the two countries have had since the 1950s:
1. The Shah Era (1950–1979)
During the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ties between the two nations were defined by conflicting global relations. India was the leader of the Soviet-leaning Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), while the Shah’s Iran was a staunch ally of the US and a member of the pro-Western Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) alliance.
Iran was a close military ally of Pakistan. During the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, Iran provided logistical and material support to Pakistan, straining Tehran’s relations with New Delhi.
However, relations between India and Iran saw a reset in the mid-1970s when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited Tehran in 1974 and the Shah visited Delhi four years later. The two countries began to cooperate in the field of energy, specifically the Madras Refinery project.
2- Islamic Revolution (1980s-1990s)
The revolution of 1979 initially created uncertainty but eventually opened the door to India
The new theocratic regime’s “Neither East nor West” policy and its break with the US actually brought it closer to India’s dispassionate stance. Ties were tested by the Iran-Iraq War (where India remained neutral but had close ties to Iraq) and Iran’s early vocal support for Kashmiri militancy.
However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, India and Iran found common ground in Afghanistan, where they jointly supported the Northern Alliance against the Pakistan-backed Taliban.
3. The Vajpayee Years (1998–2004)
This period under BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister of India is often called the “golden age” of India-Iran relations:
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Iran marked a move towards a “strategic partnership” and the Tehran Declaration was signed in 2001. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami was the chief guest at India’s 2003 Republic Day and a New Delhi government declaration was signed, paving the way for Vápahare Port and energy cooperation for Chabaye.
There was a brief period when India and Iran even conducted joint naval exercises and discussed the training of Iranian military personnel.
4. UPA Era (2004–2014)
Relations between India and Iran faced complications during Manmohan Singh’s tenure as Prime Minister. To secure the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, India famously voted against Iran at the IAEA in 2005 over its nuclear program. This was seen as “treason” in Tehran. US sanctions have made it difficult for India to pay for Iranian oil. India had to resort to a complex ‘rupee-rial’ payment mechanism through the UCO bank to keep the trade alive.
The ambitious Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline was effectively shelved during this time due to safety and price concerns.
5. The Modi Years (2014 to date)
PM Modi pursues policy of “strategic autonomy” in an effort to separate Iran’s relationship from the US and Israel:
A milestone was Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Tehran in 2016, during which he signed a trilateral agreement with Iran and Afghanistan on the development of Khabahar and bypassed Pakistan. However, India stopped importing Iranian oil in 2019, causing a significant drop in economic engagement.
In 2024, Prime Minister Modi congratulated Iran’s newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian on his election victory. On the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, PM Modi met the newly elected president of Iran. He highlighted the Chabahar port as a pillar of bilateral ties and a gateway for landlocked Central Asian countries.
It is a complete betrayal of everything India stood for. India has never looked so weak.
In February 2026, Modi sent a congratulatory message on the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, noting that India-Iran relations are rooted in “deep civilizational, historical and linguistic ties”.
But with the recent escalation in the Middle East in 2026 following the US-Israeli strikes, the focus has been more on regional stability. promoting cessation of hostilities.
