Thus Israel strongly opposes the JCPOA and wants Iran to be completely nuclear free. It is easy to say, because as a signatory to the NPT, Iran has the right to conduct peaceful nuclear activity. So Israel has proposed to set up a joint defense structure with Gulf Arab countries and has signed several agreements with the United Arab Emirates. To balance these initiatives, the United Arab Emirates has kept its lines of communication open by sending its senior national security official to Iran for discussions with Iran.
Iran, predictably, reacted with a satire against Israel. Its foreign ministry spokesman said the visit would strengthen the “disastrous and seditious presence” of the fake regime in the Middle East. Dietrib said that welcoming the prime minister to an illegitimate regime, which has been the root cause and creator of insecurity, tension and war in the region of Arab and Muslim countries for more than 70 years, will remain in the historical memory of Palestinians. People, regional nations and freedom seekers of the world.
For India, these developments do not undermine its interests in pursuing independent relations with all countries in the region. India is not going to take sides but will pursue its interests without taking any drastic measures that will disturb India’s cooperation with individual countries in this area. If circumstances change drastically, India will undoubtedly review its options.
(The author is former Secretary and former Ambassador in the Ministry of External Affairs; He has served in Indian Embassies in Cairo, Jeddah and Tel Aviv; He is Founding Director of Deepstrat and Visiting Fellow at ORF, Delhi. This is an opinion and views expressed above The author’s own. The Quint Neither endorses nor is responsible for it.)
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