India and Iran have common interests; Diplomacy means finding contradictions: Jaishankar tells News18

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on a two-day visit to Tehran this week, met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian and Roads and Urban Development Minister Mehrdad Bazarpash and discussed various issues ranging from the situation at Chabahar port, Gaza war and attacks. Commercial ships in the Red Sea.

Jaishankar, who was in Tehran as part of the ongoing high-level exchanges between the two sides, also met Iranian President Dr Ebrahim Raisi and conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s good wishes.

In an exclusive conversation with CNN-News18 after his return, the minister said, “Our relations with Iran are growing and we are negotiating a long-term framework for Chabahar because till now it has been operating on a series of short-term contracts. Used to be.” …We finalized a long-term contract in 2016 and then the Iranians asked for changes. Many issues were reopened. Since 2016 it has been running on short-term contracts. At the moment people are negotiating long-term contracts. My purpose in going there was to impress upon them that there is so much riding on the North-South Corridor and the Chabahar Port that we really need to work together to make a long-term agreement…I think today Realizing we need to do this.”

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

Jaishankar also discussed the Red Sea crisis with his Iranian counterpart during his visit, which is likely to hurt global trade. The situation worsened in early December when Yemen’s Houthi militants stepped up their attacks on commercial vehicles while demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Cargo ships carrying Indian crew members were also attacked last month.

“So on one hand we have our relationship, but we also have problems to discuss. There are attacks on maritime shipping, both by drones and missiles. “And putting maritime navigation at risk is a very dangerous game there,” Jaishankar told CNN-News18.

India is closely monitoring the evolving situation in the Red Sea. This issue was raised in the phone conversation between Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week.

“Also when one looks at what the number is today. The number 1 issue in world politics is the ongoing war in Gaza. They have their own perspective, we have our own perspective, they are not the same. Jaishankar told CNN-News18, “He expressed his views clearly and I was equally straightforward in expressing my view.” “A lot of diplomacy is partly communication, but at the end of the day In, a lot of it is finding connections. In the end I think Iran and India have a lot of common interests. Diplomacy is that you pick out positive issues out of very irreconcilable issues and take them forward.”