‘India can help address tensions in West Asia’
NEW DELHI: India can help address the tensions in West Asia in view of its relations with both Iran and Israel, and take on an active role in “preventing Israeli aggression”, Iranian ambassador Iraj Elahi said on Friday against the backdrop of further escalation in the region.
Amid reports of an Israeli drone strike targeting at least two cities within Iran, Elahi sought to play down the matter and said in an interview with HT that there was “no military operation in Isfahan and other cities”. He added: “This is just a media war. Israeli authorities are trying to compensate [for] the strike of Iran by [such] shows.”
Asked what role Iran sees India playing in the current situation and whether New Delhi can help in any form of mediation, Elahi replied: “We have good relations with India and, of course, India has a close relationship with the Israeli regime. India can play an active role in preventing Israeli aggression.”
Accusing Israel of “all kinds of crimes” against the people of Gaza, Elahi said: “Is it right to remain silent in the face of such a crime?”
Soon after Iran carried out its first-ever direct attack on Israel by launching hundreds of drones and missiles on April 13, India expressed serious concern about the increase in hostilities in West Asia and called for immediate de-escalation. External affairs minister S Jaishankar
spoke separately to his Iranian and Israeli counterparts on April 14 and conveyed India’s concerns and emphasised the need to avoid escalation.
The Iranian attack on April 13 was a response to an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in the Syrian capital on April 1 that killed seven people, including a senior general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Elahi described Iran’s strikes with drones and missiles as a “proportionate military action” that targeted “some military centres in occupied Palestine within the framework and based on the inherent right of self-defence according to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter”.
“Before carrying out the attack, we had informed the neighbouring countries that were in the path of the missiles because of maintaining the safety of passenger planes. After the operation, [Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian] had a telephone conversation with Mr Jaishankar, the minister of foreign affairs of India, and informed him about the details of the operation,” he said.
Asked about India’s concern over the situation in West Asia, especially because of the presence of nine million expatriates in the region, Elahi contended that Iran “has never sought to spread war and harm civilians”. He added, “The security of people is important, and it doesn’t matter if they are Indian or Iranian or Palestinian or any other nationality...In our operation, we never sought to harm people and only targeted military bases.”
According to Elahi, the way forward in the Israel-Hamas conflict is to refer the matter to a referendum and “ask the opinion of the original inhabitants of this land, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish”.