India Responds to Iran: What Did Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Say About Muslims in India?

India Responds to Iran: What Did Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Say About Muslims in India?

Only hours after Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, criticized the treatment of Muslims in Myanmar, Gaza, and India, the latter’s Ministry of External Affairs strongly condemned his remarks, saying they were “misinformed and unacceptable.”

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “Countries should refrain from making comments on the status of minorities in India.

They should review their human rights record before making such remarks.” “We strongly deplore the comments made by the supreme leader of Iran regarding minorities in India. These remarks are both ill-informed and unacceptable,” said Jaiswal while reiterating India’s stance.

While the two nations have enjoyed close relations, testified to by a 10-year contract inked last May to develop and operate the Chabahar port in Iran, these comments have led to a diplomatic standoff.

The port of Chabahar, built by India in southeastern Iran on the Gulf of Oman, is crucial to projects of transportation of goods to Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, bypassing the ports of Pakistan.

These tensions were further compounded when the Ambassador of Israel to India, Reuven Azar, went all guns blazing on social media, attacking Khamenei.

“@khamenei_ir, you are a killer and oppressor of your own people. Muslims in Israel, India and all democracies enjoy freedom, which is denied in Iran. I hope the people of Iran will soon be free,” Azar tweeted.

Khamenei’s criticism comes at a time when tensions between Iran and Israel have risen with the latter being accused of plotting against Iranian nuclear physicists.

The unease is palpable in New Delhi as India maintains a delicate balancing act between the two. While India has close strategic relations with Israel, more so in defense and security spheres, West Asia supplies a significant amount of its oil supplies–80% of it.

Khamenei’s comments came during a speech to clerics in Tehran in which he spoke about what he termed the “suffering” of Muslims across various regions.

“The enemies of Islam have at all times sought to render us apathetic to our collective identity as an Islamic Ummah. We cannot consider ourselves true Muslims if oblivious to the sufferings of Muslims in Myanmar, Gaza, India, or any other place,” Khamenei wrote on X.

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These comments have come at a time when India is treading a very cautious foreign policy line amidst increased regional tensions. They brought a fresh twist to India’s diplomatic tightrope balancing act between Iran and Israel.