EAM Jaishankar holds talks with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister on sidelines of Raisina Dialogue

EAM S Jaishankar met Iran’s Deputy FM Saeed Khatibzadeh at Raisina Dialogue 2026 amid ongoing West Asia conflict. The three-day conference fosters global dialogue on geopolitics, climate, trade, and technology, March 5–7

New Delhi:  External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar met Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue 2026 in New Delhi on Friday.

The talks between two ministers comes amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, which was triggered by the joint US-Israel strikes against Iran on February 28, aimed at degrading Tehran’s missile capabilities and military infrastructure.

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The opening wave of the operation killed senior figures in the Iranian leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering a response from Tehran in the form of drone and missile attacks targetting US assets, regional capitals and allied forces across the region.

The 11th edition of the Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, commenced in New Delhi on Thursday, bringing together an array of global leaders, policymakers and strategic experts.

The three-day conference, organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), convenes heads of state, ministers, academics, industry leaders, think tanks and members of the media to deliberate on pressing global challenges.

EAM Jaishankar met French Minister delegate for Europe Benjamin Haddad, State Secretary in Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Niels Annen and Tanzania’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ng’waru Jumanne Maghembe.

On the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue, EAM Jaishankar also met GLOBESEC think-tank founder and President Robert Vass and European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) Co-founder and Director Mark Leonard.

The 11th edition of the Raisina Dialogue is being held in New Delhi from March 5-7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Raisina Dialogue on March 5. Finland President Alexander Stubb joined the inaugural session as the Chief Guest and delivered the keynote address.

In a statement, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated, “The theme of the 2026 edition is “Saṁskāra – Assertion, Accommodation, Advancement”. Over the course of three days, decision makers and thought leaders of the world will engage each other across conversations in various formats, over six thematic pillars: (i) Contested Frontiers: Power, Polarity, and Periphery; (ii) Repairing the Commons: New Groups, New Guardians, New Avenues; (iii) White Whale: The Pursuit of Agenda 2030; (iv) The Eleventh Hour: Climate, Conflict, and the Cost of Delay; (v) Tomorrowland: Towards a Tech-topia; (vi) Trade in the Time of Tariffs: Recovery, Resilience, Reinvention.”