Mattis and Pompeo to Seek India Accord Amid Threat of Sanctions

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford (L) at the Pentagon in Washington, on Aug. 28, 2018. Pho SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo travel to New Delhi this week in an effort to seal a new defense cooperation agreement with their Indian counterparts despite tensions over threatened American sanctions. Hanging over the meeting, planned for Sept. 6, is the prospect that the U.S. will impose economic sanctions on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government unless it significantly reduces purchases of oil from Iran and cancels a planned $6 billion purchase of S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Indian officials have said the Russian arms deal would go ahead as planned. The first U.S.-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue is about expanding a strategic partnership rather than closing individual arms deals, according to a Defense Department official. Transfers of advanced defense technology would be boosted if the two sides are able to complete work on a proposed Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement.

Lockheed’s F-16

Sales of U.S. arms, associated parts and logistics support to India have increased to an estimated $15 billion this year from zero in 2008 and could rise by an additional $3 billion by 2019, said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. The prospects include a potential deal to build advanced F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. in India.

Reflecting the importance of India as a strategic ally, Mattis this year renamed the U.S. Pacific Command as the Indo-Pacific Command. In hopes that India can be recruited to help the U.S. counter China’s growing military and economic power, the Trump administration’s National Defense Strategy published this year calls for bolstering “partnerships in the Indo-Pacific to a networked security architecture capable of deterring aggression, maintaining stability, and ensuring free access to common domains.” But the threat of sanctions clouds the prospects for U.S.-India cooperation. The U.S. plans to reimpose sanctions on purchases of Iranian oil in November, after President Donald Trump quit the 2015 multinational nuclear deal with Iran. Meanwhile, a 2017 law imposed by Congress requires the president to penalize countries that conduct a “significant transaction” with Russia’s defense sector.