Iranian FM Zarif meets Jaishankar in Delhi

New Delhi [India], Jan 16 (ANI): Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here on Thursday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Zarif held a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue 2020 which is currently going on in the national capital.
The visiting dignitary also met National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.
Zarif, who participated in the Raisina Dialogue 2020, targetted the US over its air raid which killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Iraq earlier this month.
He said that US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and the Islamic State (ISIS) are “celebrating” the death of Soleimani.
Talking about Iran’s airstrikes at two military bases in Iraq, Zarif maintained that Tehran retaliated in “self-defence” and rebuffed Washington’s claims that Soleimani was planning to attack US embassies.
Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force, was killed in a US drone strike at Baghdad International Airport on January 3. Days later, Tehran retaliated by firing a barrage of missiles at two US military bases in Iraq.
Soleimani’s death marked a dramatic escalation in tensions between the US and Iran, that has often been at a fever pitch since Trump, in 2018, chose to unilaterally withdraw Washington from the 2015 nuclear pact the world powers had struck with Tehran.
Countries including the UK and India have urged Iran to pursue urgent de-escalation. (ANI)

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