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Snubbed S M Krishna drops Iran visit
Sachin Parashar, TNN, Mar 30, 2010, 03.52am IST
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Tags:India|Iran|S M Krishna|IAEA
NEW DELHI: India's attempts to step up engagement with Iran on crucial regional issues, including Afghanistan, appear to have suffered a setback, with foreign minister S M Krishna calling off his visit to Tehran at the last moment amid signs of indifference on the part of the hosts.
Krishna decided not to go after the Iranians abruptly changed dates twice. It is not known if the visit will take place in the near future.
Sources revealed that Krishna reacted to Iran's wriggling out of the dates it had intimated to India for the second time by saying prior commitments prevented him from making the visit.
India refrained from taking issue with Iran, but sources said that Tehran's fickleness over the dates could result from a possible reluctance on Iran's part after India took a stand favouring International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolutions against it for pressing ahead with its nuclear programme.
Manmohan's Iran visit also on hold
External affairs minister S M Krishna, an official revealed, had last month agreed to visit Tehran after receiving an invitation from his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki. In the invitation, Mottaki said he wanted Krishna to take part in Navroze celebrations. March 28 and 29 were the dates communicated for the visit.
Tehran later asked that the dates be changed to March 30 and 31. Krishna accepted and agreed to travel on the revised dates suggested by Tehran, only to find the Iranians seeking to change the dates for again, this time to March 27 and 28.
This time the foreign ministry conveyed Krishna's inability to make it on the new dates. Sources said that by the time this second change was communicated to the ministry of external affairs (MEA) by the Iranian embassy in Delhi, Krishna's visit to Singapore had already been announced. Iranian embassy officials told the MEA that they wanted the dates changed again because of Navroze celebrations on March 27 and 28.
But many are inclined to view Tehran's change of dates against the background of strained ties resulting from India's votes in favour the IAEA's censure of Iran for its nuclear programme. When India again voted in favour of the IAEA resolution last year, Mottaki had made his displeasure known to Krishna.
PM Manmohan Singh's visit to Tehran has also not materialised, even though the two sides have had it on the agenda for more than a year. India has been hoping to forge a strong alliance with Iran over the Taliban issue, as Tehran has maintained it does not believe there is any "good" Taliban, and that Taliban groups should not be allowed any role in the Kabul government in the event of a reconciliation.
However, the one important difference between the positions of the two countries is that, unlike India, Iran wants NATO troops to withdraw immediately from Afghanistan.