Iranian envoy summoned on minister’s tweet on Delhi riot, demarche issued

The foreign ministry issued a demarche to Iranian ambassador Ali Chegeni, expressing dismay and disappointment at the foreign minister’s comments.

Updated on: Mar 3, 2020, 11:44:39 IST

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By Shishir Gupta

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The Ministry of External Affairs summoned Iranian Ambassador Ali Chegeni on Tuesday over the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif comments on social media on the Delhi violence. The ambassador was clearly told that the foreign minister’s comments were “totally uncalled for and unacceptable”, people familiar with the development said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (REUTERS)

The foreign ministry issued a demarche to Iranian ambassador Ali Chegeni, expressing dismay and disappointment at the foreign minister’s comments.

New Delhi’s prompt message to Iran to steer clear of “matters internal to India” came after foreign minister Javad Zarif’s sharp comment on Twitter over the Delhi violence.

The minister had condemned what he described as a “wave of organised violence against Indian Muslims”.

“For centuries, Iran has been a friend of India. We urge Indian authorities to ensure the wellbeing of ALL Indians & not let senseless thuggery prevail. Path forward lies in peaceful dialogue and rule of law,” Zarif said on Twitter on Monday night.

The foreign minister’s comment places Iran in the company of countries such as Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia that have issued statements on the violence on Delhi streets last week.

The external affairs ministry last week asked international bodies and governments to not make irresponsible statements that are not based on facts at a sensitive time.

Violence in north-east Delhi last week had claimed 46 lives and injured over 300 people.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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