India strongly protests Iranian Foreign Minister's "selective and tendentious" remarks on violence in Delhi

India on Tuesday strongly condemned Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s “selective and tendentious” statement describing the recent clashes in its National Capital Territory as “organised violence” against Muslims.

New Delhi dismissed Iranian Foreign Minister’s “unwarranted statements” on the violent clashes that resulted in the death of at least 42 people in the capital of India.

Ali Chegeni, Ambassador of Iran to India, was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi Tuesday. The senior officials of the MEA conveyed to him that the violence in parts of Delhi last week was an “internal matter” of India and the Government of India “did not expect such comments from a country like Iran”.

Zarif on Monday called the recent clashes in Delhi as “the wave of organised violence against Indian Muslims” and stated that Iranian Government condemned it. “For centuries, Iran has been a friend of India,” the Iranian Foreign Minister tweeted

He also added, “We urge Indian authorities to ensure the well-being of ALL Indians & (and) not let senseless thuggery prevail. Path forward lies in peaceful dialogue and rule of law.”

“It was conveyed (to Iran's ambassador to India) that his (Iranian Foreign Minister's) selective and tendentious characterization of recent events in Delhi are not acceptable,” Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said. “We do not expect such comments from a country like Iran”.

After Modi Government on August 5, 2019 moved to strip Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) of its special status and reorganized the state into two Union Territories, Tehran kept its reaction limited to rather mildly expressing concerns over “condition of people” in the valley and urging New Delhi to adopt “a fair policy” towards the people of the region. Tehran also avoided taking Islamabad's side whenever tension between India and Pakistan escalated.

Zarif had visited New Delhi in January and met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar just less than a fortnight after the United States had killed Iran's top military commander Lieutenant General Qaseem Soleimani in a drone attack near the international airport in the capital of Iraq.

India had hosted him brushing aside the murmurs of disapproval from the United States. Jaishankar too had met Zarif in Tehran soon after he and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had held the 2+2 dialogue with their US counterparts in Washington D.C. in December 2019.

hough New Delhi stopped buying crude oil from Iran to save its entities from United States sanctions, it continued its engagement with Tehran for its role in Chabahar Port in the West Asian Nation as the port would provide India sea-land access to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan.

The violent clashes in the national capital territory already drew flak for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government from certain sections of the international community, the strong critical remarks from Tehran came as a rare shock for New Delhi. Iran generally avoids taking a critical stand on any internal matter of India.