On the day that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with his Iranian hosts for the NAM summit, Israel embassy reminded here on Wednesday that both the Iranian supreme leader and President were part of the milieu which orchestrated the attack on the Israeli diplomat earlier this year.
In Tehran, Manmohan Singh met with both Iranian supreme leader Ali Khameini and president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad on the eve of the NAM summit.
In response, the Israeli embassy said here on Wednesday, “Ahmadinejad and Khameini, the leaders of the Iranian Regime, are publically calling for the destruction of the State of Israel, acquiring nuclear weapons and running the most extensive state-sponsored terrorism operation in the world.”
‘’These are the same people who sent Iranian state-agents to kill an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi while she was on her way to pick up her children from school on 13 February 2012,” it added.
In contrast to its public objection to the visit of UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon in Tehran, Israel had not articulated any adverse comment on the Indian PM visiting Tehran.
This is the first visit of an Indian premier to Iran in ten years, the last visit was by PM Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2002.
India had asked Iran to cooperate in the investigation of the Delhi bomb blasts, which the latter has agreed but has rejected Israeli objections. A Delhi police team had visited Tehran recently in connection with the investigation. Interpol has issued alerts for four Iranian nationals in connection with the blasts, on request of India.