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Jaishankar to attend Raisi's swearing-in ceremony in Tehran

Jaishankar is likely to convey to the new Iranian President an invitation from the Prime Minister for an early visit to India
Last Updated 02 August 2021, 18:23 IST

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will travel to Tehran to represent the Government of India when Iran’s former Chief Justice, Ebrahim Raisi, will take over as the West Asian nation’s new President on Thursday.

This will be Jaishankar’s second visit to Tehran after Raisi’s victory in the presidential elections in Iran. He had visited Tehran on July 7, called on Raisi and handed over to him a congratulatory message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Jaishankar was in fact the first foreign dignitary to meet Raisi.

New Delhi is keen to engage with Raisi’s government in Tehran and arrest the slide in India-Iran relations, particularly in view of the resurgence of Taliban with the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan and the possibility of Pakistan gaining a strategic advantage against India.

Jaishankar is likely to convey to the new Iranian President an invitation from the Prime Minister for an early visit to India.

New Delhi’s relations with Tehran came under stress over the past one-and-a-half decades as the US sanctions on Iran often forced India to curtail trade and economic links with the Persian Gulf nation.

But the prospects of President Joe Biden’s administration recommitting to the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran already prompted New Delhi to signal that it would restart importing crude oil from Iran and return to investing in infrastructure and hydrocarbon projects as and when the US would lift or ease sanctions on the West Asian nation.

India is worried over the proposed deal Iran is planning to sign with China securing a whopping $400 billion investment pledge by communist country in its infrastructure and energy sectors over the next 25 years.

What also sent alarm bells ringing in New Delhi is Iran’s purported move to invite China and Pakistan to take part in the development of its Chabahar Port.

Beijing and Tehran are learnt to have discussed a proposal to link the Chabahar Port with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor – a flagship component of President Xi Jinping’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative and a project opposed by India.

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(Published 02 August 2021, 18:23 IST)

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