Swaraj on unscheduled visit to Iran ahead of Chabahar port inauguration

External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Saturday paid an unscheduled visit to Iran and had luncheon meeting with her Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in Tehran.

The visit comes a day before inauguration of the first phase of the Chabahar port development project.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet that the two ministers discussed issues of mutual interest.

"Reinforcing our traditionally close and civilizational linkages, EAM @SushmaSwaraj had a luncheon meeting with the Foreign Minister of Iran Dr. Javad Zarif in #Tehran. Both sides discussed issues of mutual interest," he said.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani will inaugurate the first phase of the Chabahar port development project on Sunday and Sushma Swaraj would attend the event.

The first consignment of wheat from India to Afghanistan, that was flagged off by Sushma Swaraj and her Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani, had reached the Afghan city of Zaranj near the Iran-Afghanistan border last month via the Iranian port of Chabahar, thereby bypassing Pakistan.

It was the first shipment to go to Afghanistan through Chabahar after the trilateral agreement to develop the port as a transport and transit corridor between India, Iran and Afghanistan was signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Iranian and Afghan Presidents Rouhani and Ashraf Ghani, respectively, in May last year.