India should use diplomatic tools at its disposal to help de-escalate US-Iran tensions | The Indian Express

India should use diplomatic tools at its disposal to help de-escalate US-Iran tensions | The Indian Express

Written by Vikram S Mehta |Updated: July 1, 2019 8:57:17 am

The writer is the chairman of Brookings India and senior fellow, Brookings Institution.

India should use diplomatic tools at its disposal to help de-escalate US-Iran tensions

The US-Iran stand-off is wrapped in a “fog of uncertainty”. No one really knows what will happen but what we do know, based on our reading of Clausewitz and understanding of history, is that it could take no more than a false report, a miscalculation or simply an accident for the region to conflagrate into violent conflict.

This would be the first meeting between Modi and Trump after the recent general elections in India. Trump had called and congratulated Modi over the phone on his re-election (File)

“The most common form of human stupidity is forgetting what one is trying to do.” This Nietzschean aphorism finds sharp affirmation in the behaviour of the leaders of the US and Iran today. Both have forgotten what they are trying to achieve but both are engaged in verbal, economic and physical jousting that is generating sparks that could light up a regional bonfire. India would be severely impacted in such an event. Our leaders face a policy dilemma. Should they use their “soft” power to try and snuff out the sparks but risk an embarrassing rebuff? Or should they stay on the sidelines in the hope that disaster will not prevail? It is my view that the Indian government should do the former. It should deploy the “quiet” power of diplomacy to pre-empt the consequences of human stupidity.