External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will attend the inauguration of Iranian president-elect Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on August 5.
New Delhi and Tehran have been in close association over the last few weeks since the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan, trying to increase coordination to protect their strategic interests.
S Jaishankar was the first foreign leader to meet the Iranian president-elect when he visited Tehran last month on his way to Moscow and conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special message to him.
Jaishankar has also been in regular touch with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif over Afghanistan’s situation. The two met in Tehran during Jaishankar’s July tour and held talks on various issues from connectivity and Chabahar Port to the Afghan situation.
India, Iran, and Russia were the main supporters of the Northern Alliance when the Taliban was in control of Kabul and large parts of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001. This alliance was headed by Tajik-origin commander Ahmad Shah Masood.
