This will be the second time that Jaishankar will be meeting the Iranian President-elect after he met the latter last month…reports Asian Lite News
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday left for Iran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the President-elect Ayatollah Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi.
This will be the second time that Jaishankar will be meeting the Iranian President-elect after he met the latter last month during his brief stopover at Tehran on the way to Russia.
“At the invitation of the Government of Iran, the External Affairs Minister will visit Iran on August 5-6, 2021 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the President-elect H.E. Ayatollah Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi on August 5, 2021,” a statement of the Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday.
“During his visit, EAM will call-on the President, and on the sidelines, will also meet other leaders,” it stated further.
Iran’s ultraconservative cleric and judiciary chief, Ebrahim Raisi won the presidential election. A day after Iranians voted in an election that was marred by boycotts and a low turnout on June 18, Raisi won 62% of the vote with about 90% of ballots.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had hailed the election as a victory for the nation over “enemy propaganda.”
Last month India accepted Iran’s invitation for the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Ebrahim Raisi.
The invitation was extended at a meeting between Raisi and India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on July 7 when the Jaishankar was on a brief stopover in Tehran on his way to Russia for a three-day visit.
During the meeting, Jaishankar also delivered a personal message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President-elect Raisi. The External Affairs Minister also met his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
India is among the few countries to be invited to the ceremony.
India and Iran share a strong bilateral relationship marked by meaningful interactions. The two countries share several common features in their language, culture and traditions.
Both countries have expressed concern about the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and called for strengthening intra-Afghan dialogue to find a comprehensive political solution against the backdrop of the drawdown of US and international forces. (India News Network)