Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, will hold discussions with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on Monday as the two countries look at the fallout of the United States pulling out of a nuclear deal with Tehran and a fresh round of sanctions against the country, officials said.
US president Donald Trump pulled out of an international deal with Iran to stop the latter’s nuclear programme and announced sanctions against the country, and also those countries trading with it.
Though Zarif’s meeting with Swaraj is slated for 6:30pm, he is likely to meet other Indian officials as well.
Bahram Ghasemi, a spokesperson of the Iran foreign ministry, said Zarif will ‘discuss the latest developments in bilateral relations and pave the way for expanding and deepening them’.
Ghasemi said the minister and the delegation will also discuss the latest regional and international developments with Indian officials.
Iran is the third largest source of Indian oil export and India is making huge strategic investment in the Chabahar port that connects Afghanistan to Central Asia bypassing Pakistan.
During Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to India in February, the two countries signed many pacts to deepen their bilateral cooperation. Zarif had earlier this month visited Russia, China and the European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. HT
