Nitin Gadkari attends Iran president's swearing-in

Soon after voting in the vice-presidential elections, transport minister Nitin Gadkari flew to Tehran on a special diplomatic mission to sort out irritants and placate Iran. He was chosen by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to represent India at the inauguration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's second term.

Gadkari had played a key role in drafting the Trilateral Transit and Transport Corridor Treaty between India, Iran and Afghanistan that was later signed during Modi's visit to Tehran in 2016.

The project involved developing Chabahar port (barely a thousand kilometres from Kandla in Gujarat) with road and rail connectivity linking it to Zaranj, on the Afghan-Iran border, 900 km to the north.

But since then, there has been a dip in ties following delays in the timeline India was to follow for the development of the port.