PM Modi to visit Tehran on May 21, will meet Ayatollah Khamenei

Diplomats working behind the scenes to make the visit a success say Iran was the “missing link” in the Prime Minister’s plans for India in the Middle-East. “Modi has taken the plunge where the UPA was reluctant to move in,” one of the diplomats said.

Mapping PM Modi’s foreign trips: 26 countries in 2015, 3 so far in 2016; Now off to Iran

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan have already visited Iran to do the groundwork for political and energy talks. The Prime Minister proposes to visit the port of Chabahar where India has invested, an indication of its long-term interests in Iran and the region.

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal told The Indian Express: “It goes without saying that Prime Minister Modi’s meeting with Khamenei will be really interesting. Khamenei does not meet many visiting leaders. He is the man who takes the real decisions. If the Prime Minister meets him, it means Iran wants to engage with India politically as well.”

Modi and his senior ministers have already touched base with key players in the region, among them Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Qatar.

Underlining the importance India attaches to the region, sources pointed out that President Pranab Mukherjee too has visited Israel. Home Minister Rajnath Singh also travelled to Israel, a country with which India also has defence ties.

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Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told The Indian Express: “After my and the Foreign Minister’s visits in quick succession, if the Prime Minister is visiting Iran, it signifies something. In the post-sanction era, when a new economy is taking shape in Iran, we want to be Iran’s strategic partner. We are surely interested in oil, gas, fertilisers. But more than that, we want to strengthen our old relations.”

“When Iran was under sanctions, even then we maintained our relations. We were purchasing their oil in their difficult times. We have civilisational ties. As you know, Hindi has many Farsi words like khushi, gum,” he said.