The Iranian foreign minister cancels his participation in the Raisina Dialogue, in India. The organizers of the event showed scenes of Iranian women cutting their hair: the Islamic Republic considers it to be interference in its internal affairs. The two countries could act in synergy in the region, especially in Afghanistan.
Delhi () – Diplomatic incident between India and Iran over protests over Mahsa Amini, the young Iranian of Kurdish origin who died in September in the custody of the moral police, who had arrested her for not wearing the veil correctly.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday that Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian canceled his scheduled participation in next month’s Raisina Dialogue, the annual geopolitical gathering organized by Indian diplomacy and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
Tehran accused organizers of “unprofessional” behavior after the ORF posted a video on its website showing Iranian women cutting their hair, a symbol of protest against Iran’s strict rules on wearing the hijab.
Iranians consider the images to constitute Indian interference in the internal affairs of the Islamic Republic. Demonstrations in memory of Masha have been taking place for months despite the harsh repression by the authorities, which has led several Western countries to impose new sanctions on Tehran, although India has not joined these initiatives.
As the ORF itself points out, the shift in attention of the great powers towards the war in Ukraine has left a diplomatic vacuum in the region comprising the Middle East and South and Central Asia, especially with regard to Afghanistan. A void that Delhi and Tehran could fill with their own measures, even in synergy.
