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External affairs MoS attends Ali Khamenei's memorial service at Iran's Delhi embassy
According to MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, Margherita offered solemn respects on behalf of the Government of India at the 40th-day mourning ceremony.
The Narendra Modi government was represented by the minister of state for external affairs, Pabitra Margherita, on the last day of Chehelum (40-day mourning) for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, Margherita offered solemn respects on behalf of the Government of India at the 40th-day mourning ceremony organised by the Embassy of Iran in New Delhi.
“India–Iran relations are anchored in deep-rooted civilizational, cultural and people-to-people ties,” Jaiswal said in a post on X.
Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28, an incident that plunged the West Asian region into a war that lasted six weeks before a ceasefire was announced last Tuesday.
India offered condolences on the death of the Iranian Supreme Leader almost a week later, with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri signing the condolence book at the Iranian embassy in New Delhi on March 5. Misri visited the Iranian embassy and signed the condolence book on behalf of the government of India.
India had also repeatedly called for dialogue and diplomacy to end the Iran-US conflict early, emphasising the need to secure the interests of nearly 10 million Indians living in West Asia and to prevent disruptions to trade and energy supply chains, with potential “serious consequences” for the country’s economy.
