Iranian foreign minister cancels India trip

Manouchehr Mottaki, who was due in New Delhi, did not give a reason for the cancellation or any fresh dates for the visit.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who was due in New Delhi for a two-day visit beginning Wednesday, has cancelled his trip, an Indian foreign ministry official said.

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"The Iranian foreign minister has not come in. We had issued an advisory of his programme which we are cancelling," said the official, who did not want to be named.

He did not give a reason for the cancellation or any fresh dates for the visit, during which Mottaki was to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Petroleum Minister Murli Deora.

Indian television channels reported the trip was called off due to the growing crisis in the Middle East sparked by a blistering Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

Iran's controversial nuclear programme and a proposed seven-billion-dollar gas pipeline to India through Pakistan were expected to have dominated the agenda during Mottaki's visit.

Singh on Tuesday said that India favoured dialogue rather than coercive diplomacy to resolve the controversy over Iran's nuclear programme.