Iran Foreign Minister, Jaishankar talk bilateral ties, Afghanistan

“Prime Minister requested the Iran Foreign Minister to convey his greetings” to Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, and “looked forward to meeting the President of Iran at an early date”, a statement from the PMO said.

Earlier, Jaishankar and Amir-Abdollahian discussed multiple issues, including the ongoing war in Ukraine, the situation in Afghanistan and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and the United Kingdom in July 2015, colloquially called the Iran nuclear deal.

Jaishankar said he held wide-ranging discussions with Amir-Abdollahian. Tweeting about the meeting, he said, “Wide ranging discussion with FM @Amirabdolahian of Iran. Reviewed our bilateral cooperation, including in trade, connectivity, health and people to people ties. Exchanged views on global and regional issues including JCPOA, Afghanistan and Ukraine.”

Before the meeting began Jaishankar had said in a tweet that their discussions “will reflect our close and friendly relations”.

Amir-Abdollahian’s visit—who arrived on Tuesday evening—will “further boost our deep historical ties and partnership,” MEA Spokesperson Arundam Bagchi had tweeted earlier.

The meeting comes just days after Iran had summoned India’s ambassador to the nation, Gaddam Dharmendra on Sunday, to register its protest against the comments made by BJP leaders last week. Iran was one among the first few nations to issue the demarche, after Qatar and Kuwait.

Since then, however, nearly a dozen more nations have either joined in summoning the Indian envoys, or have issued statements condemning the comments, some even asking for a public apology. Iran is a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a Jeddah-headquartered 57-member body, which had been very critical in its statement on the recent controversy. India had reacted sharply to OIC’s comments, calling its “denunciation” as “unwarranted and narrow-minded comments”.

Though it summoned the Indian diplomat, Iran had, however, refrained from issuing any statement on the controversy.

Delhi has maintained a high focus on its diplomatic relationship with Tehran, as it does not want it to fall under the influence of Beijing.

Iran has been one of the closest partners of India, especially in the Gulf region. India is also building the Chabahar Port, in partnership with Iran and Afghanistan earlier, located in the Sistan-Baluchestan province, which will give it access from the sea to Afghanistan and other Central Asian nations.

Jaishankar has been a regular visitor to Iran since taking over as the Foreign Minister in 2019. He first visited the Persian nation just months after taking over, in December 2019, to co-chair the 19th Joint Commission Meeting.

Less than a year later, in September 2020, Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Iran independently, on their way to Moscow.

Jaishankar again visited Iran in July 2021, again on his way to Moscow, and handed over a personal message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Ebrahim Raisi, who had just been elected as the incoming president. He was back in Tehran just days later in August to attend Raisi’s swearing-in ceremony, to which India had been invited during the July visit.

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All these meetings and discussions, however, had taken place before the Taliban took control of Kabul in August last year, changing the security scenario of the region.

Afghanistan continues to be one of the main topics of discussions between the two nations. Last week a team of Indian officials had visited Kabul for the first time since August and had discussed diplomatic relations, bilateral trade, and humanitarian assistance in a meeting with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mottaqi.