Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has reached Tehran
Tehran:
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Tehran on Saturday where he will meet his Iranian counterpart and discuss bilateral defense relations, a day after urging Persian Gulf countries to resolve their differences through dialogue based on mutual respect.
Singh arrived in Tehran from Moscow after concluding his three-day visit to Russia where he attended a meeting of defense ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). He also had bilateral talks with his counterparts from Russia, China and Central Asian countries.
“Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh arrived in Tehran tonight. He will meet Iranian Minister of Defense (Brigadier General Amir Hatami) during his visit,” his office said in a tweet.
India said on Friday it was “deeply concerned” about the situation in the Persian Gulf and called on countries in the region to resolve their differences through dialogue based on mutual respect.
A series of incidents in the Persian Gulf involving Iran, the United States and the United Arab Emirates in recent weeks have raised tensions in the region.
“We are deeply concerned about the situation in the Persian Gulf,” Singh said in his speech at a SCO meeting here.
“We call on the countries of the region – which are all dear and friends of India, to resolve their differences through dialogue based on mutual respect, sovereignty and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs”, he said in his speech at the joint meeting. defense ministers of the SCO, the Collective Security Treaty Organization and member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Last month, the Iranian Navy briefly took control of a Liberian-flagged tanker in what the United States has called international waters near the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman to the south and to the Arabian Sea beyond.
Iran has threatened to disrupt oil deliveries across the Strait of Hormuz if the United States tries to strangle its economy.
The SCO, seen as a counterweight to NATO, has grown into one of the largest cross-regional international organizations, representing nearly 44% of the world‘s population, from the Arctic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and the Ocean Pacific to the Baltic Sea.
The aim of the SCO is to maintain peace, stability and security in the region.
Iran has observer status with the SCO, which was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and from Uzbekistan.
India and Pakistan were admitted as observers of the grouping in 2005. Both countries were admitted as full members of the block in 2017.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
