New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday spoke to his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian, focusing on the Chabahar port project, the situation in Afghanistan and Iran’s landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Jaishankar described the conversation as “wide-ranging”.
“A wide ranging conversation with my Iranian colleague, FM @Amirabdolahian. Discussed the difficulties of Covid, challenges in Afghanistan, prospects of Chabahar and complexities of the Iranian nuclear issue,” he tweeted.
India has been in touch with Iran over the developments in Afghanistan following its takeover by the Taliban on August 15.
The Iranian National Security Advisor had attended a regional conclave hosted by India two months back on the Afghan crisis.
The conclave was also attended by NSAs of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
India and Iran have been developing the Chabahar port as a major transit point in the region.
The port is located in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich Iran’s southern coast.
The Iran nuclear deal was finalised in 2015 between Tehran and several world powers including the EU. It was aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The US had withdrawn from the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran. There have been fresh efforts now to restore the deal.
In the last few days, Jaishankar spoke to his counterparts from the US, Russia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Nigeria.
He also spoke to foreign ministers of Egypt, Israel, Australia, Indonesia, Maldives and Bhutan.