Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has reportedly cancelled his planned visit to India next month to attend the Raisina Dialogue, India's premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics.
Quoting people familiar with the matter, news agency PTI reported that the Iranian foreign minister was scheduled to attend the event to be held on March 3 and 4, and the cancellation is apparently due to a promotional video for the event that features a clip of protesting Iranian women with an image of President Ebrahim Raisi, which the Iranian side feels portrays Tehran in a negative light.
The video, which is one minute and 50 seconds long, covers various global challenges and developments, including the war in Ukraine, China's aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, and the women's protests in Iran.
The cancellation of the visit by the Iranian foreign minister comes at a time when Iran has been witnessing widespread protests. In September last year, there were protests in Iran after a young woman was arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country's norms that require women to wear hijab.
The Raisina Dialogue, organized by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), has been a significant platform for discussions on geopolitical issues since its inception in 2016.
There has been no official comment from either the MEA or the Iranian embassy on the matter.
