NEW DELHI : NEW DELHI: Prime minister Narendra Modi and US president Donald Trump on Tuesday discussed the situation in the Middle East following the death of a senior Iranian commander of the Quds Force in an American drone strike last week in a telephone conversation.
“Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India to exchange New Year’s greetings. The leaders discussed ways to further strengthen the United States-India strategic partnership in 2020, and they also reviewed the regional (Gulf region) security matters,” a Bloomberg report quoted a White House readout as saying.
Tension in the volatile region escalated after a US drone hit a convoy which had General Qassem Soleimani, who headed the Quds Force. Iran has threatened retaliation, while Trump has promised to hit 52 Iranian sites should Tehran retaliate.
India and the US have differing views on Iran — New Delhi views Tehran as a partner in India’s extended neighbourhood to meet its energy needs as well as a gateway to landlocked Middle East and Afghanistan. Washington on the other hand views Iran as the biggest source of instability and terrorism in the region. According to
India though, Pakistan is the “epicentre” of terrorism in India’s neighbourhood.
India’s other concerns stem from the fact that the Middle East is home to approximately 7 million Indian expatriate population. Any instability in the region could affect valuable remittances that the community sends home — about $ 40 billion according to one estimate. Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar had spoken to his US counterpart Mike Pompeo on Sunday and discussed the fallout of the killing of Soleimani. In the past two days, Jaishankar has also spoken to the foreign ministers of Oman, Jordan, the UAE and Qatar.
An Indian readout of telephone conversation issued early on Tuesday quoted Modi as telling Trump that relations between India and the US are built on mutual trust and understanding and have grown from strength to strength.
During the call, Modi also conveyed New Year greetings to Trump and is family, a government statement said.
“The Prime Minister wished President Trump, his family and the people of the United States good health, prosperity and success in the New Year,” the government statement said. “The Prime Minister stated that India-US relations, which are built on trust, mutual respect and understanding, have grown from strength to strength.”
“The Prime Minister highlighted the significant progress made in deepening the Strategic Partnership between the two countries in the previous year and expressed his desire to continue to work with President Trump for enhancing cooperation in all areas of mutual interest,” according to the statement.
“President Trump wished the people of India prosperity and progress in the New Year. He expressed satisfaction at the achievements in the relationship in the last few years and reiterated his readiness for further deepening bilateral cooperation,” it said.
