Recent news reports indicate that Indian crude oil refiners have begun to look at West Asia to diversify imports from Russian suppliers. Fresh sanctions imposed by the earlier Biden administration affected 183 oil tanker vessels. These are often described as Russia’s “shadow fleet” that delivered Russian crude across the world. This development has once again brought into spotlight the importance of Iraq to India’s energy security. New Delhi needs to devote greater strategic attention to Iraq that has been among its top three oil suppliers for the past over a decade.
India-Iraq: Low Key Bilateral Ties
Owing to the long-drawn political instability in Iraq and the Levant region following the armed conflicts of the early twenty-first century, and also possibly due to India’s concerns over the rise of Islamic State in the region, bilateral ties with Iraq have remained low-key in the past two decades. However, this appears a flat patch in an otherwise proud history of multidimensional relationship, which boasts of connections rooted in civilisational antiquity. The Indus Valley and Mesopotamian civilisations were among the most advanced ancient civilisations which maintained close trade and cultural ties with each other.
The cross-cultural contacts between India and Iraq included multiple faiths and belief systems, viz. Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Sikhism. Kurdish ethnic group Yazidis’ culture has striking similarities with Hinduism for long, so goes the belief. Buddhism, too, had spread in the ancient period to the region that covers modern day Iraq. Later, after the advent of Islam, Iraqi philosophers and Sufi saints like Khwaja Hasan al Basri, Junaid Al Baghdadi, Sheikh Behlul and Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani attracted large following in India. Guru Nanak Dev Ji is said to have travelled to Baghdad to deliberate on the philosophical matters with Sheikh Behlul who hosted him for nearly three months around 1511 CE. Even today thousands of Indians annually visit Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf and Samarrah in Iraq for pilgrimage.
The Defence Connect
During the colonial period, thousands of Indian soldiers were deployed to Mesopotamia (later Iraq) during World War I and II, and ships of the Royal Indian Navy operated in the Persian Gulf. In the modern era, India and Iraq, post-colonial nation states that evolved from ancient civilisations, have enjoyed largely cordial ties, which became particularly close in the later part of the twentieth century. Indian expatriate workers found employment opportunities with the growth of the petroleum industry in Iraq.
Political ties became strong in the 1970s and 1980s. During this period India contributed significantly to capability development of Iraqi armed forces. On Iraqi request, the Indian Air Force trained hundreds of Iraqi pilots on Russian-made aircraft like the MIG-21. Indian Navy ships used to periodically visit the bustling port of Basra on goodwill and flag showing missions. The long Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s complicated India’s choices in the region but cooperation continued to grow.
The Devastating Gulf Wars
The decade encompassing the two Wars in the Gulf region waged by U.S.-led military coalitions disrupted India’s cooperation with Iraq. Those interventions focused on debilitating and defeating President Saddam Hussein’s regime that ruled Iraq for nearly 25 years (1979-2003). Before the first Gulf War in 1991, there were more than 80,000 Indian nationals residing in Iraq. However, due to instability and security risks perpetuated by the second Iraq War in 2003, the numbers of Indians residing in Iraq steadily dwindled in the current century.
In the post-2003 reconstruction phase, the Kurdistan region has been attracting Indian workers in large numbers. Subsequently, the rise of the Salafi extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2014 led to another exodus of Indian expatriates working in the region. In 2014-15, ISIS made rapid gains in Iraq, capturing parts of Anbar province, and expanding into the northern part of the country up to Mosul. The killings and burials of 39 Indian workers in a mass grave in Mosul in 2014 by ISIS exacerbated India’s worries.
Iraq: From Crisis To Crisis
Iraq turned a page in 2017 when ISIS (Daesh) was pushed out following a three year long effort of Iraqi army, supported by local tribes, the Kurdish Peshmerga, Iranian troops and complemented by an international coalition put together by Washington against Daesh (The Global Coalition). However, deep rooted sectarian divide between Shia, Sunni (Baathist) and Kurdish groups in Iraq remain a danger to political stability.
Tensions created by the unrelenting U.S.-Iran political dynamic also impact Iraq, as seen in the confrontation following the 2020 assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad by a U.S. drone strike. Iran’s influence has steadily grown in Iraq, and that was evident in various parliamentary elections in recent years. In May 2018, a coalition of parties led by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who is opposed to U.S. presence in Iraq, won Iraq’s parliamentary election. Al-Sadr’s Shia bloc, which has historically taken political positions independent of other Iranian-backed Shia groups in Iraq, however, could not continue in power and had to resign due to large scale protests across the country against corruption and unemployment.
Following the 2021 parliamentary election, which saw increased representation for minority groups, the newly elected parliament could not form a coalition government, precipitating a political crisis that was addressed in a limited manner in late 2022. The Iraqi Parliament elected Abdul Latif Rashid as the country’s new president in October 2022, who tasked Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani with forming the government as the prime minister under a Shia Coordination Framework, which is supported by Iran. The new government is not endorsed by Muqtada al-Sadr, who announced his retirement from Iraqi politics in 2022. Even as Washington remains concerned about Iran’s influence upon the current ruling coalition, U.S. military presence continues in Iraq, though diminished from earlier.
China In Iraq
The relative political stability since 2022 has provided Iraq’s external partners opportunities to renew their external engagements, including trade and commerce ties. Iraq’s deputy parliament speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi, a businessman with interests in hotels, hospitals and cash transfer services was recently quoted by Reuters saying “today, we have stability. Foreign companies are coming to Iraq”.
China and Pakistan have expanded their commercial and trade ties with Baghdad in recent years. About 50-67% of Iraq’s crude comes from oil fields that have the involvement of Chinese companies as investors, producers or in-field servicing. China accounts for about 30 per cent of Iraqi oil exports. Conversely, Iraq accounts for about 10 per cent of Chinese oil imports. Oil revenues contribute about 85 per cent of Iraq’s national budget. So, Iraqi politicians have generally welcomed Chinese investments.
China has sought to engage Iraq using its Belt and Road Initiative, Global Security Initiative and the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum platforms. Chinese equipment, including armoured and unmanned aerial vehicles, has already entered Iraq’s armed forces.
Pakistan’s Engagement With Iraq
Recently, Pakistan and Iraq signed a protocol to explore ways to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation. On the sidelines of the 9th session of the Pakistan-Iraq Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC), held in January 2025 after a long gap (the last meeting was in 2001), the two sides also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the provision of workforce between the two countries while agreeing to strengthen industrial collaboration. Defence ties between the two sides have also been growing.
In 2023-24, Pakistan delivered 12 Super Mushshak trainer aircraft to the Iraqi Air Force, with a follow-on order of 12 additional aircraft to be manufactured and supplied by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. Pakistani Air Chief Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu visited Iraq in 2024 and offered comprehensive training programmes ranging from foundational to tactical levels for Iraqi pilots. Both sides periodically have naval drills, the most recent being in December 2024 when Pakistan Maritime Security Agency patrol vessel Dasht visited the Iraqi port of Um Qasr. Pakistan has also been providing training to Iraqi cadets and other specialist personnel at its military academies.
Time For India To Shun Wait & Watch?
India’s ties with Iraq are largely centered on basic consular, commercial and trade functions. But they are well poised to overcome the hesitation of the “wait and watch” phase and move to multi-sectoral engagement. The ruling Shia Coordination Framework government has reaffirmed the policy of “balance and openness”, thereby signaling a desire to broad base Iraq’s foreign relations.
In the backdrop of the recent peace moves by Israel and Hamas, India could look at reinvigorating defence and security ties with Iraq by adopting a more proactive and long-term approach. In March 2023, Iraqi National Security Adviser (NSA) Qasem al-Araji visited New Delhi on the invitation of his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. Close security ties can prove to be vital. In 2014, 46 Indian nurses held captive by ISIS for 23 days were released after hectic behind the scenes parleys.
Going Beyond Oil
Prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were India’s top three sources for import of crude oil. While they are currently at the second, third and fourth spots, respectively, in the list of India’s top oil suppliers, the anticipated decline of the Russian market will almost certainly push back Iraq on the top spot.
A fillip to investments by Indian companies in Iraq’s reconstruction projects, industrial development, as also in medicine, pharmaceuticals, health care and education can match the continued buoyancy in energy imports.
A review of defence ties with Iraq could be useful to explore the scope of offering capability development assistance (e.g. counter terrorism, maritime security, aviation) and assess potential for defence exports. The security dimension of our energy imports through the Gulf region is also critical. During the Iran-Iraq War, many nations had to provide naval escort to the crude oil tankers carrying export consignments through the narrow waterways.
Iraq appears to be coming out of the woods after two decades of turmoil. Long-lasting political stability still seems a tall order. But India should work towards deepening its equities in Iraq, given the rich legacy of ties and the immense latent potential across sectors.
