Upset over video clip, Iranian Foreign Minister decides not to travel to India

New Delhi, February 17

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is understood to have cancelled a planned visit to India next month to attend a conference on geopolitics, apparently dismayed over a promotional video of the event that features a small clip of protesting Iranian women with an image of President Ebrahim Raisi.

There is no official comment on the matter either from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) or from the Iranian embassy here.

Abdollahian was scheduled to attend the Raisina Dialogue to be held on March 3 and 4, people familiar with the matter said, adding that he is not going ahead with the visit because of the video clip that the Iranian side feels shows Tehran in poor light.

The Raisina Dialogue is considered to be India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics. It is being organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in collaboration with the MEA.

The video (total duration one minute and 50 seconds) features clips on key global challenges and developments, including the war in Ukraine, the global pushback to China’s aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea and the women’s protests in Iran.

There was no official announcement on the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to India.

Iran witnessed widespread protests after a young woman was arrested by morality police in Tehran on September 13 last year for allegedly violating the country’s norms that require women to wear hijab.