Amid the ongoing outrage in the Muslim world against remarks against Prophet Mohammad, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held talks here on Wednesday with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. He also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Welcoming the visiting minister, the Prime Minister recalled the long-standing civilisational and cultural links between India and Iran. The two leaders discussed ongoing bilateral cooperation initiatives. The Prime Minister stressed that both countries should work to accelerate exchanges in the post-Covid era, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
The Prime Minister requested the Iran Foreign Minister to also convey his greetings to President Ebrahim Raisi and looked forward to meeting the President of Iran at an early date.
It is the first visit to India by a senior minister of a member nation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) after the controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammed by now suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma triggered condemnation by several countries.
His visit comes days after Iran summoned India ambassador to Tehran to register its protest against the remarks. Kuwait and Qatar had also summoned Indian envoys to the respective nations. Several countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Bahrain, the Maldives, Malaysia, Oman, Iraq and Libya denounced the comments.
The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday categorically rejected the criticism of India by the OIC following the comments on the Prophet.
As regards the talks here, the foreign ministers of India and Iran reviewed their longstanding bilateral ties in all spheres. The Iranian minister is on a three-day visit to India with an aim to further enhance the bilateral ties as well as to discuss key regional and global developments, including the situation in Afghanistan.
“Welcoming FM @Amirabdolahian to New Delhi. Our discussions today will reflect our close and friendly relations,” Jaishankar said in a tweet ahead of the talks.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the visit by the Iranian foreign minister will further “boost the deep historical ties and partnership” between the two countries.
Abdollahian will travel to Mumbai and Hyderabad after concluding his engagements in New Delhi. Iran has been a key country for India in the Gulf region.
The two sides have been jointly focussing on improving connectivity between South East Asia and Central Asia. At a connectivity conference in Tashkent in July last year, Jaishankar had projected Iran’s Chabahar port as a key regional transit hub, including Afghanistan.
Located in Sistan-Balochistan province on energy-rich Iran’s southern coast, the Chabahar port is being developed by India, Iran and Afghanistan to boost connectivity and trade ties.
India is in touch with Iran over the developments in Afghanistan following its takeover by the Taliban on August 15 last year. The Iranian national security advisor had attended a regional conclave hosted by India on the Afghan crisis in November last year. The conclave was also attended by the NSAs of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.