Modi meets Iran President at UNGA |
Amid escalating face-off between Iran and the United States on Tehran`s nuclear programme, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York and discussed issues of mutual and regional interests. According to an official press release, the Prime Minister reiterated India`s support for giving priority to diplomacy, dialogue and confidence-building in the interest of maintaining peace, security and stability in the Gulf region, which is of vital importance for India. India, the world`s third biggest oil consumer, meets more than 80 per cent of its oil needs through imports. Iran was its third largest supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia till recently. The six-month-long exemptions from US sanctions to India and seven other countries to buy oil from Iran expired on May 2 as Washington did not extend it. India-Iran ties have been on an upswing in the past few years. Prime Minister Modi visited Tehran in May 2016 with an aim to craft a strategic relationship with Iran and the two nations signed nearly a dozen agreements. Later, India, Iran and Afghanistan signed a trilateral agreement providing for transport of goods among the three countries.
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