Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif To Begin Three-day India Visit Today

Amid tensions with the United States, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will begin his three-day India visit on Tuesday. Zarif, who is coming to India to participate in India's flagship global conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, 'Raisina Dialogue', will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Zarif will hold talks with external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday over breakfast, said ministry.

Later, the Iranian foreign minister will travel to Mumbai and hold discussions with business leaders and will conclude his three-day visit on Friday.

The visit gains significance as it comes in midst of spiralling tensions between Tehran and Washington over the killing of General Qaseem Soleimani.

After US killed Soleimani, Iran launched missiles on a military base in Iraq with US forces stationed there. However, US president Donald Trump in an address said no American soldier was injured in the attack.

Things exacerbated for Iran when it accepted the ‘human error’, that claimed the lives of 176 passengers by bringing down a Ukrainian airliner in a missile attack.

Also Read: 'Deeply Concerned': S Jaishankar Dials Iranian Counterpart Amid Iran-US Tension

Earlier, external Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had dialled his Iranian counterpart Javed Zarif and had expressed India's concerns over the situation in middle-east. He also held telephonic conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and had highlighted India’s stakes and concerns regarding the tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Also Read: US-Iran Tension: S Jaishankar Holds Telephonic Conversation With Pompeo, Voices India's Concerns

India has been maintaining that it would like the situation to de-escalate as soon as possible and New Delhi has been in touch with key players in middle east including Iran, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar as it has important interests in the region.

Moreover, in December 2019, S Jaishankar co-chaired the 19th Joint Commission Meeting with Javad Zarif. During Jaishankar’s visit, India and Iran had agreed to accelerate work on the strategic Chabahar project.