External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday to strengthen bilateral ties and discuss the situation in Afghanistan and the Ukraine issue. The rendezvous happened amid great outrage in West Asia over two former BJP spokespersons’ inflammatory statements about Prophet Mohammed.
“Iran’s FM Amirabdolahian holds a wide-ranging debate. Reviewed our bilateral cooperation in areas such as commerce, connectivity, health, and people-to-people relationships. Global and regional problems such as the JCPOA, Afghanistan, and Ukraine were discussed “Mr Jaishankar Tweeted.
Both sides also inked a memorandum of understanding on civil and commercial legal aid.
Mr. Abdollahian is in India on a three-day visit to strengthen bilateral ties. It is the first visit to India by a senior minister from an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member country since the Gulf countries were outraged by contentious statements about the Prophet.
“FM @Amirabdolahian has arrived in New Delhi. Today’s conversations will reflect our warm and cordial relationship,” as per Mr Jaishankar’s tweet before the meeting. Mr Abdollahian’s visit to India occurred only days after Iran joined Kuwait and Qatar in recalling Indian diplomats over Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal’s anti-Prophet statements.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Bahrain, the Maldives, Malaysia, Oman, Iraq, and Libya have all condemned the remarks since then. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday, however, vehemently opposed the OIC’s condemnation of India in the controversy over the Prophet.
The Iran nuclear accord was also discussed.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), often known as the Iran nuclear agreement, was signed in 2015 by Iran and a number of international countries, including the European Union. Its goal was to put a stop to Iran’s nuclear aspirations. In May 2018, the United States pulled out of the agreement and reimposed sanctions on Iran. However, there have been fresh attempts to resurrect the agreement. After wrapping up his activities in New Delhi, Abdollahian will fly to Mumbai and Hyderabad, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
In the Gulf area, Iran has been an important country for India.
The two countries have worked together to improve connections between Southeast Asia and Central Asia. Mr Jaishankar projected Iran’s Chabahar Port as a key regional transit hub, including Afghanistan, at a connectivity conference in Tashkent in July last year.
The Chabahar port, located in the Sistan-Balochistan region on Iran’s southern coast, is being constructed by India, Iran and Afghanistan to improve connectivity and commercial links. In the aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, India has been in regular contact with Iran as well.
In November, the Iranian National Security Advisor addressed a regional summit on the Afghan problem organized by India. The NSAs of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan were also in attendance for the same.
