Amid the threats between India and Pakistan after recent military strikes, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir, arrived in New Delhi for an unplanned visit. The unexpected diplomatic move came a day after India took the resolution of carrying out attacks on terrorist infrastructure in nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) after the deadly Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
And on Thursday, Al-Jubeir, who also doubles as Saudi Arabia’s climate envoy, met with India’s External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, according to state media. The only concrete acknowledgment of the meeting came from Jaishankar’s social media post, where he wrote, “A good meeting with @AdelAljubeir, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia this morning.” He said “Shared India’s perspectives on firmly countering terrorism,” indicating India’s strong position on recent cross-border violence and terrorism emanating from Pakistani terrorists.
The meeting comes in the wake of India’s robust diplomatic and strategic reaction to the Pahalgam massacre, exercising airstrikes, the temporary halt of the Indus Waters Treaty, and other political moves against Pakistan. The Saudi visit seems to reinforce the international alarm over the volatile South Asian situation and a possible veiled de-escalatory move.
Interestingly enough, it was announced that the Saudi minister arrived just hours after Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi landed in New Delhi on a pre-scheduled visit. Araghchi co-chaired a bilateral joint commission meeting with Jaishankar, but previously had raised eyebrows amongst Indian quarters by making an offer to mediate between India and Pakistan. He stressed that Tehran regards both countries as “brotherly neighbors,” and declared that Iran is ready to make use of its diplomatic ways of relieving tensions.
Araghchi had also paid an unscheduled trip to Islamabad at the start of the week, underscoring Iran’s precarious position between the two political antagonists.
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