Upset over video clip, Iran foreign minister cancels India visit

Angry over a promotional video clip of protesting Iranian women against hijab, the Foreign Minister of that country Amir-Abdollahian is understood to have cancelled a planned visit to India next month to attend a key think-tank event in New Delhi.

The Raisina Dialogue, considered to be India's premier conference on key global issues and scheduled to be held on March 3-4, is being organised by New Delhi-based private think-tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Abdollahian was scheduled to attend the Raisina Dialogue, people familiar with the matter said, adding that he is not going ahead with the visit because of the video clip that the Iranian side feels shows Tehran in poor light.

There is, however, no official comment on the matter either from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) or from the Iranian Embassy in Delhi.

The one minute and 50 seconds video showed, among other things, key global challenges and developments, including the war in Ukraine, China's aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea and the women's protests in Iran. The portion on the protests in Iran featured a pix of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi.

Iran witnessed widespread protests after a young woman was arrested by morality police in Tehran on September 13 last year for not wearing hijab.