Iran minister pulls out of Raisina meet over protest image

NEW DELHI: Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will not participate in the Raisina Dialogue apparently because of differences with organiser ORF over a promotional video which showed anti-hijab women protesters in Iran with an image of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the background.

Iran wanted the images removed but ORF didn’t agree. There was no confirmation by either side about what led to the cancellation of the proposed visit. The MEA also didn’t comment on the issue.

The 1.50-second video features clips on key global challenges and developments including the war in Ukraine, global pushback to China’s aggressive behaviour in South China Sea and the women’s protests in Iran. There was no official announcement about his visit to India. He was expected to participate in the Dialogue on March 3.

The Raisina Dialogue is considered India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics. It is being organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in collaboration with the MEA.

The move comes apparently because of differences with Raisina organiser ORF over a promotional video which showed anti-hijab women protesters in Iran with an image of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the background.

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