New Delhi, June 28 -- If the United States of America had not coerced India to throttle its relationship with Iran in 2018, we would likely have had bilateral annual trade of over $20 billion (importing 650,000 barrels a day of crude oil) and built strategic connectivity to Afghanistan and Central Asia through the Chabahar port. Nothing in the bilateral relationship was responsible for our loss. India was forced to reduce its purchases of oil and its own merchandise exports to Iran by Washington's sanctions and quotas.

Now that the US-Israeli war on Iran has created a new situation in West Asia, India must take the initiative to quickly rebuild ties with Tehran. Whatever positions New Delhi took before and during the war, realism demands...