New Delhi: Any military attacks against India will be “met with a very, very firm response,” External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said Thursday, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, during a joint commission meeting with his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi.
In his opening remarks at the 20th India-Iran Joint Commission, he said, “Excellency, you are visiting India at a time when we are responding to a particularly barbaric terrorist attack on 22 April in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This attack compelled us to respond on 7th May by striking at cross-border terrorist infrastructure.”
The Indian external affairs minister added that the Indian response was “targeted and measured”.
“It is not our intention to escalate this situation. However, if there are military attacks on us, there should be no doubt that it will be met with a very very firm response,” he added, without mentioning Pakistan by name.
Araghchi arrived in Delhi Wednesday for his first visit to India since becoming Iran’s foreign minister in August last year. He is scheduled to depart later Thursday.
Earlier this week, he made an unscheduled visit to Pakistan, meeting with Pakistani senior leadership, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of the Army, General Syed Asim Munir.
Araghchi landed in Delhi just hours after India launched Operation Sindoor, striking nine terrorist complexes in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Islamabad has vowed to retaliate against the strikes and, in the early hours of Thursday, attempted to target a number of India’s military installations in northern and western India, according to the defence ministry. Its attacks were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS-grid and Air Defence Systems.
In response, India has targeted air defence radars and systems at a number of locations across Pakistan. The response has been in the “same domain” with the “same intensity” as Pakistan, the defence ministry said in a statement Thursday, adding that an air defence system in Lahore has been neutralised.
Ties between India and Iran
After his visit to Pakistan, Araghchi returned to Tehran before travelling to India for the joint commission meeting, which focuses on economic and trade affairs.
Ties between New Delhi and Tehran have “progressed in many aspects”, while there are also situations that need to be addressed, Jaishankar further said Thursday.
In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in the Russian city of Kazan on the margins of the BRICS Summit. Pezeshkian also spoke to PM Modi after the deadly Pahalgam terrorist attack last month.
The terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam left 26 tourists dead, including 25 Indians and one foreign national. The attack was one of the most significant against civilians in recent years, prompting India to impose a number of punitive measures on Pakistan, including holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.
The Iranian foreign minister has offered to mediate between New Delhi and Islamabad, and his recent visits to both capitals indicate Tehran’s flurry of diplomatic activities in the region.
“As a neighbour and close partner, it is important that you have a good understanding of this situation,” said Jaishankar.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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