India offers condolences over Khamenei’s death

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said he held a telephonic conversation with Iranian FM Seyed Abbas Araghchi amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. He said India has offered condolences on the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri signing the condolence book at the Iranian embassy in New Delhi on Thursday.

Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28, an incident that has plunged the West Asian region into a war. Misri visited the Iranian embassy and signed the condolence book on behalf of the government of India. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also released a photograph of the foreign secretary's conversation with the Iranian envoy to India, Mohammad Fathali.

Earlier on Tuesday, India had called for dialogue and diplomacy to end the Iran-US conflict early, emphasising the need to secure the interests of nearly 10 million Indians living in West Asia and to prevent disruptions to trade and energy supply chains, with potential “serious consequences” for the country’s economy.

The MEA statement noted there are almost 10 million Indian citizens living and working in the Gulf region, and said: “Their safety and well-being is of utmost priority. We cannot be impervious to any development that negatively affects them.”

With India’s trade and energy supply chains passing through the region, the statement said any “major disruption has serious consequences for the Indian economy”. The statement cited the prominent role of Indian citizens in the global workforce while firmly opposing attacks on merchant shipping.