Defence minister Rajnath Singh leaves for Tehran after 4-day Russia visit

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday left for Tehran to meet his Iranian counterpart Brigadier General Amir Hatami after completing his four-day visit to Moscow.

"Leaving Moscow for Tehran. I shall be meeting the Defence Minister of Iran, Brigadier General Amir Hatami," Rajnath Singh in a tweet.

On Saturday, Singh met his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and deliberated on ways to give greater thrust to defence cooperation between India and the Central Asian countries.

Singh had reached Moscow on Wednesday to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers which took place on Friday.

On Friday, Singh had a meeting with his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe during which the two sides discussed military standoff along the Line of Actual Control.

During the talks, Singh emphasised that the actions of the Chinese troops including amassing of a large number of troops, their aggressive behaviour and attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo were in violation of the bilateral agreements and not in keeping with the understandings reached between the Special Representatives of two sides.

He said while the Indian troops had always taken a very responsible approach towards border management but there should also be no doubt about the determination to protect India's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

During the visit, Rajanath Singh also met his Russian counterpart General Sergey Shoigu in Moscow. The two leaders discussed strengthening defence and strategic cooperation between both the two countries.