Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon is scheduled to leave for Tehran on Saturday for a two-day visit to iron out differences which have been emerging between the two countries owing to India voting againt the Iranian nuclear programme two years ago.
According to official sources, the foreign secretary is likely to call on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki and discuss with them a wide array of bilateral, regional and global issues.
In his meetings, the foreign secretary will assure the Iranian leadership that despite its growing ties with the US, India is committed to deepen its relations with Iran with whom it shares centuries-old civilisational and historical ties.
The issue of the multi-billion-dollar tri-nation gas pipeline project to transport the Iranian gas via Pakistan to India will also be discussed. New Delhi has not attended trilateral crucial meetings on IPI gas pipeline project including an important one in Tehran a few weeks ago on the plea that India wanted to settle transit fee issue first with Islamabad.
Though the ministry of external affairs has not officially announced the visit, sources observe that the visit is important as it is taking place after the December 3 release of US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report which said with moderate confidence that Iran?s nuclear weapons programme had not resumed.
The report radically revised world opinion about the nature of Tehran?s atomic energy programme, accused by the West of developing nuclear weapons.
