Jaishankar to attend swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected Iranian president: MEA

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on Thursday.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that Jaishankar will pay a two-day visit to Iran from Thursday, primarily to attend the swearing-in ceremony.

''At the invitation of the government of Iran, the external affairs minister will visit Iran on August 5 and 6 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Ayatollah Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi on August 5,'' the MEA said in a statement.

''During his visit, the external affairs minister will call on the president and on the sidelines, will also meet other leaders,'' it added.

Raisi, a hardliner and known to be close to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, won the presidential election in June by a landslide.

Jaishankar called on President-elect Raisi during a stopover at the Iranian capital on his way to Russia last month.

The external affairs minister also held extensive talks with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in Tehran, covering a range of key issues including the fast-evolving situation in Afghanistan.

His visit to Tehran coincided with Iran hosting an intra-Afghan dialogue in the country.

Iran has been a key country for India in the Gulf region.

The two sides have been jointly focussing on improving connectivity between South East Asia and Central Asia.

At a connectivity conference in Tashkent last month, Jaishankar projected Iran's Chabahar port as a key regional transit hub, including Afghanistan.

Located in the Sistan-Balochistan province on energy-rich Iran's southern coast, the Chabahar port is being developed by India, Iran and Afghanistan to boost connectivity and trade ties.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)