India, Iran discuss development of cooperation between two countries

New Delhi: Iran's Ambassador to India Iraj Elahi, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday discussed the development of cooperation between India, Iran.

"H.E. Iraj Elahi ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi, met with H.E. Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways of India and discussed the development of cooperation between two countries," as per the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi's official handle on 'X'.

India-Iran relations span centuries marked by meaningful interactions. The two countries shared a border till 1947 and share several common features in their language, culture and traditions, as per the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Both South Asia and the Persian Gulf have strong commercial, energy, cultural and people-to-people links, the MEA said.

Recently, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian hosted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Tehran.

The two leaders discussed expanding bilateral and multilateral ties within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS.

In a post on X, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated, "Iran's FM: "Today, I hosted Indian FM @DrSJaishankar, we held talks over the latest regional and int'l developments, especially the Zionist regime's #genocide& crimes against Palestinians. We discussed the expanding bilateral & multilateral ties within the #Shanghai Org. & #BRICS."

The Iranian Foreign Minister said he and Jaishankar discussed the latest international and regional developments, including the Israel-Hamas war. During the meeting, Hossein Amir Abdollahian highlighted the importance of providing security in international waterways near Iran.

On January 29, a swift response by Indian Navy's Mission Deployed warship ensured safe release of hijacked Iranian vessel and crew. INS Sumitra, on Anti-Piracy ops along East coast of Somalia and Gulf of Aden, responded to a distress message regarding hijacking of an Iranian flagged Fishing Vessel (FV) Iman. The FV had been boarded by pirates and the crew taken as hostages. Sumitra intercepted the vessel, acted in accordance with the established SOPs to coerce the pirates for safe release of crew along with the boat & ensured successful release of all 17 crew members along with the boat.