S Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister, will attend the swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on Thursday.
Mr. Jaishankar will go to Iran for a two-day visit beginning Thursday, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He will largely attend the swearing-in event.
“The foreign affairs minister will travel to Iran on August 5 and 6 at the request of the Iranian government to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Ayatollah Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi on August 5,” the MEA said in a statement.
“During his visit, the external affairs minister will call on the president and on the sidelines, will also meet other leaders,” it added.
Raisi, a hardliner who is loyal to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, scored a resounding victory in the presidential election in June.
During a stopover in Tehran last month on his route to Russia, Mr Jaishankar met with President-elect Raisi.
In Tehran, the foreign affairs minister met with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, and discussed a number of critical topics, including the rapidly changing situation in Afghanistan.
His travel to Tehran coincided with the country’s hosting of an intra-Afghan discussion.
In the Gulf area, Iran has been an important country for India.
The two countries have worked together to improve connections between Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
Mr Jaishankar projected Iran’s Chabahar port as a significant regional transportation hub, including Afghanistan, during a connectivity conference in Tashkent last month.
The Chabahar port, located in the Sistan-Balochistan region on Iran’s southern coast, is being built by India, Iran, and Afghanistan to improve connectivity and commercial connections.
