EAM Jaishankar to represent India at Iran President Raisi's oath-taking ceremony 

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will visit Iran this week to represent India at the oath-taking ceremony of the new Iran President Ebrahim Raisi. The ceremony will take place in Tehran on August5,which will see participation by several heads of government and foreign ministers.

This will be Jaishankar'ssecond visit to Iran in a matter ofamonth. Last month,he had visited Iran while going to Moscow. During the stopover,he called on President-elect Ebrahim Raisi,who isthe first foreign minister tobe slated to become president. During his meeting with the Iranian President-elect, he handed over a personal message from Indian PM Narendra Modi.

In a tweet after the meet, Indian EAM said, "Deeply value his strong commitment to strengthen our bilateral ties and expand cooperation on regional and global issues."

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He also held talks with Iran's foreign minister Zarif during which Afghanistan was the key focus. Iranian foreign ministry in a statement said,"The two sides also stressedonthe need to strengthen intra-Afghan dialogue in Afghanistan,which leads to a comprehensive political solution".

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