India has sent its condolences to Iran on the death of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met the Iran ambassador in Delhi today and signed the condolence book for Khamenei’s death — which took place on Sunday, hours after the US-Israel air strikes in Tehran. It also comes shortly after Iran declared that it would open the Strait of Hormuz to all ships except those of the US, Israel and the European Union. Foreign minister S Jaishankar, in a post on X, said he had a “telecon” with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi this afternoon.
The move signs a subtle shift in the position of New Delhi, which had not condemned the airstrikes in which Khamenei died and maintained a studied silence in face of vehement Opposition demands for a formal statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi later expressed his concern about the situation in the middle-east. “India has always called for dialogue and diplomacy to find a solution to such disputes,” he said.
New Delhi’s reaction has been in line with that of most global powers, none of which had issued condolences for Khamenei’s killing – the only key nations to do so have been Russia and China.
It also comes on a day Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the Strait of Hormuz is closed exclusively to vessels from the United States, Israel, Europe and their Western allies. Any ship belonging to the United States, Israel, Europe “and their supporters” that are spotted in the waterway “will certainly be hit”.
The Opposition had earlier condemned Delhi’s stand, pointing to India’s long-standing relationship with Iran.
India at one point used to purchase 13 per cent of its oil from Iran and conducted significant trade, which had dropped sharply after US sanctions on Iran following its withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018.
Earlier this week, Congress’s Sonia Gandhi condemned the government’s stand, saying: “When the targeted killing of a foreign leader draws no clear defence of sovereignty or international law from our country and impartiality is abandoned, it raises serious doubts about the direction and credibility of our foreign policy”.
“India has long invoked the ideal of vasudhaiva kutumbakam ‘” the world is one family. That civilisational ethos is not a slogan for ceremonial diplomacy; it implies a commitment to justice, restraint and dialogue, even when doing so is inconvenient. At moments when the rules-based order is under visible strain, silence is abdication,” she had said.