Amid Growing Crisis in West Asia, EAM Jaishankar Says he Told Iran and Israel to 'Calm Down'

Bengaluru: Stating that India is ‘very concerned’ about the developing hostilities between Iran and Israel, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that he had told both of his counterparts in the two belligerent nations to ‘calm down’. EAM Jaishankar, who was in Bengaluru for an interaction at the Indian Institute of Science and National Institute of Advanced Studies, made the comment while speaking to reporters. Iran, it may be recalled, had launched hundreds of missiles and drones against Israel on Saturday in response to an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. 

Referring to the crisis, EAM Jaishanakar said “We have been telling them not to allow this (the situation) to escalate and that this is a very crucial region for the global economy.”

He noted that the region is enormously vital to India, with around one crore Indian citizens working and living in West Asia and a large part of India's shipping, including oil imports, passing through. 

"So we are very concerned when there is this kind of escalation and hostilities. So our effort has been to tell both of them to calm down. So yesterday, I made a phone call to both, not only Iran (Foreign Minister) Hossein Amir-Abdollahian but also I called up my Israeli counterpart (Israel Katz)," Jaishankar said.

"We also understand that they have concerns. I'm only saying that for the rest of the world and definitely for India, we would like to find ways of de-escalating the situation," he added.

To a question on the adverse impact of the Iran-Israel conflict, Jaishankar said in a globalised world, no country can remain unaffected.

However, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the "guts to take the right decision."