Rajnath Singh meets Iranian counterpart, discusses regional security

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said he had a "very fruitful" discussion with his Iranian counterpart Brigadier General Amir Hatami and discussed regional security situation including Afghanistan and issues of bilateral cooperation.

"Had a very fruitful meeting with Iranian defence minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami in Tehran. We discussed regional security issues including Afghanistan and the issues of bilateral cooperation," Rajnath Singh said in a tweet.

"The meeting between the two Ministers took place in a cordial and warm atmosphere. Both the leaders emphasized upon the age-old cultural, linguistic and civilizational ties between India and Iran," the Defence Minister's office said in a tweet.

The Defence Ministers discussed ways to take forward bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional security issues, including peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Singh had held bilateral meeting on September 5 with Iran's Minister of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics, Brigadier General Amir Hatami, at the latter's request, according to the office of the Defence Minister.

Singh had arrived in Tehran on a transit halt to New Delhi from Moscow, after concluding a three day visit to Russia for the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers that took place on Friday.

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.

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.