Tehran nudges India to condemn US-Israeli attacks on Iran

New Delhi: Tehran subtly nudged India to condemn the military offensive launched by Israel and the United States against Iran as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Persian Gulf nation’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh had a brief meeting in New Delhi on Friday.

“Unfortunately, principles of international law have been attacked, and we have to stand together against these atrocities,” Khatibzadeh told journalists after meeting Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue – India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics. “The Americans have assassinated the head of another state. If it is the new norm, then nobody, no country on earth, can actually have diplomatic normalisation with other countries,” he added, referring to the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in a US-Israeli strike on February 28.

India refrained from condemning the missile on Iran by Israel and the US, the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei, and the sinking of the Iranian Navy ship IRIS Dena in a submarine attack by the US in the Indian Ocean.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited the Embassy of Iran in New Delhi on Thursday and signed the condolence register for the slain ‘Supreme Leader’ of the West Asian Islamic republic. He, however, just expressed condolences on behalf of the people and the Government of India on the demise of the religious leader, without any reference to how he had been killed.

The Indian Navy issued a press release on its participation in the Search and Rescue operations after a US submarine torpedoed the IRIS Dena off Galle in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Sri Lanka on Wednesday. But the press release by the Indian Navy avoided any reference to the role of the US in the sinking of the Iranian Navy frigate.

The IRIS Dena was returning after participating in the Milan 2026 multilateral naval exercise hosted by the Indian Navy.

“This is a very sad, very unfortunate incident. That vessel was by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed,” Khatibzadeh told journalists on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue, a day after Jaishankar and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had a phone call. “It is very unfortunate. Many of the young Iranian sailors who were attending these exercises lost their lives. It cannot go with impunity for those who actually did that.”

Khatibzadeh on Friday also referred to the civilizational relations between Iran and India. “We share the Indo-Persian culture and civilisation, and it is very much in line with this cultural civilisational heritage, and we attach great importance to Iran-India relations.”

“President (Donald) Trump is asking for a leadership change in Iran, while he can't even appoint the mayor of New York. Can you imagine this colonial approach? While he would like to see democracy at home, he would like to topple the democratically elected president of Iran,” said the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran.

New Delhi did not publicly condemn the missile strikes by Israel and the US on Iran, but called for dialogue and restraint.

However, after Iran launched counterattacks on Israel and the US army bases in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called his counterparts in Tel Aviv, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi and stressed the need for an early cessation of hostilities.