TEHRAN – Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will pay a visit to Iran to represent India in the inauguration ceremony of new Iranian president Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi. 

The inauguration ceremony is slated to be held on August 5 with the participation of several heads of government, parliament speakers, foreign ministers, etc. Jaishankar will visit Iran this week to represent India at the oath-taking ceremony, according to India broadcaster WION.

This will be Jaishankar's second visit to Iran in a matter of a month. Last month, he had visited Iran while going to Moscow. During the stopover, he called on President-elect Ebrahim Raisi. During his meeting with the Iranian president-elect, he handed over a personal message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a tweet after his meeting with Ayatollah Raisi, Jaishankar hailed the president-elect’s commitment to strengthening ties between Iran and India. 

“Thank President-elect Ebrahim Raisi for his gracious welcome. Handed over a personal message from PM @narendramodi. Appreciate his warm sentiments for India. Deeply value his strong commitment to strengthen our bilateral ties and expand cooperation on regional and global issues,” the chief Indian diplomat said on Twitter. 

He also held talks with Iran's outgoing Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during which Afghanistan was the key focus. The Iranian Foreign Ministry in a statement said, “The two sides also stressed the need to strengthen intra-Afghan dialogue in Afghanistan, which leads to a comprehensive political solution.”

In addition to the situation in Afghanistan, issues of mutual interest, the latest developments in the region, the prospects for the Vienna talks on the JCPOA, transport and communications cooperation, including cooperation in Chabahar port to promote convergence in the region were on the agenda of talks.

The two sides also stressed the need to strengthen intra-Afghan dialogue in order to find a comprehensive political solution to the decades-long conflict in the country.

Iran hosted intra-Afghan talks on July 7-8. The meeting was headed by key figures from the Taliban and the Afghan government. 

The Indian foreign minister thanked Iran for its efforts to bring the two sides closer to a comprehensive political solution.

Zarif and Jaishankar discussed the latest developments in bilateral relations in a phone conversation in July.

During the phone call, the two sides also exchanged views on important regional issues, especially the situation in Afghanistan.

Iran is the key to India's connectivity to the West due to Chabahar port in which New Delhi has invested, according to WION. The port provides connectivity to Afghanistan, Central Asia and will be part of the North-South international transport corridor that connects Mumbai with Moscow.