Indian Foreign Secretary in Tehran

EghtesadOnline: Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale arrived in Tehran on Sunday for a two-day visit to hold talks with senior Iranian diplomats on bilateral relations, mutual trade and regional developments.

News ID: ۷۴۸۴۵۲

16 September 2019

Later in the day, he met Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The Indian diplomat is also expected to meet Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi, IRNA reported.

The visit has come at a time when Iran is facing harsh US sanctions mainly aimed at slashing its oil exports.

India stopped importing crude oil from Iran after the reimposition of American economic sanctions came into effect in May and has since moved to other suppliers such as Saudi Arabia to make up for the lost volumes, according to Financial Tribune.

Iran’s envoy to India has expressed disappointment over New Delhi’s decision to cut all oil imports to comply with US sanctions.

Earlier this week, Ambassador Ali Chegeni said India’s decision to “zero out” oil purchases would also affect India-Iran trade and mean that Iran would seek “other markets” to import goods and supply LNG, The Hindu reported.

Chegeni also said despite New Delhi’s promises to expedite the development of Chabahar Port, the construction work and trade was “very slow”.

These issues are likely to be discussed during the foreign secretary’s visit.