Jaishankar will discuss growing violence in Afghanistan in Tehran

External Affairs Minister attends Iran President Raisi’s swearing in

August 05, 2021 10:18 pm | Updated November 22, 2021 09:52 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

India's Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar

India's Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar flew to Tehran on Thursday to attend the swearing-in of newly elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Mr. Jaishankar is meeting Mr. Raisi as well as other dignitaries before returning to Delhi on Friday, and apart from bilateral issues, would discuss growing violence in Afghanistan.

India and Iran are the two regional powers not included in the “Troika plus” meeting of U.S.-Russia-China and Pakistan, expected to discuss Afghanistan’s future on August 11 in Doha, and have both made it clear they only recognise the legitimacy of the Ghani government though Iran has regularly held talks with Taliban delegations as well.

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani also attended the ceremony held inside the Iranian Parliament or Majlis, as did Presidents of Iraq, Armenia and Algeria. India was among the dozens of countries that were represented at the ministerial level, amongst 115 officials from 73 countries who had accepted Iran’s invitation to attend, according to figures provided by an Iranian parliamentary spokesperson.

 

EU’s senior diplomat and the Deputy Political Director of the European External Action Service, Enrique Mora, also participated despite calls from Israel, and some international human rights agencies calling on the E.U. not to attend.

While Israel has threatened military retaliation for an attack on board a privately owned Israeli tanker off the coast of Oman recently, the rights agencies pointed to alleged human rights violations Mr. Raisi was accused of and sanctioned for by the U.S. in 2019 during his tenure as Iran’s chief judge. Mr. Raisi, who has denied the charges, has vowed to overturn what he called ‘tyrannical’ U.S. sanctions.

Mr. Raisi had invited India to attend the swearing-in when the EAM had last visited Tehran on July 7, on a stopover to Moscow, and had carried a letter of congratulations for him from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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