External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to visit Iran as fears of regional war escalate

New Delhi, January 12

With the security situation in the Red Sea becoming more untenable, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is planning to visit Iran next week to understand the scenario from the other side after having spoken to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday.

The minister is visiting Iran after massive rocket, drone and missile salvos were conducted by the US-UK forces on Ansar Allah’s (Houthi) position in Yemen on Thursday night.

Jaishankar will meet his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and hold discussions on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and the subsequent Houthi attacks on commercial shipping to force Israel to lift the besieged enclave’s blockade.

India is bracing for “imported” inflation because most ships to and from Europe, except those flying the Russian and Chinese flags, are trying to avoid the Red Sea-Suez Canal area. As a result, they are taking a long detour via the Cape of Good Hope that has jacked up transportation costs to almost double the previous rate.

Iran is playing a vital role in the conflict as it is backing at least five parties that are keeping Israel militarily engaged — Ansar Allah (Yemen), Hezbollah (Lebanon), Hamas (Gaza) and Iraq-based Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq.

The US State Department readout after the Jaishankar-Blinken conversation stated that the latter “welcomed increased cooperation with India in defending freedom of navigation in the region”. Iran though has the opposite aim of disrupting commercial shipping, especially of Israel-owned ships, in order to put pressure on Tel Aviv to let in humanitarian aid in adequate volume into Gaza.