‘Discussed evolving situation’: Jaishankar speaks to Iran FM Araghchi on regional situation – Firstpost

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday held a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi and discussed the situation in Iran amid growing concerns over possible American military intervention.

Following the call, Jaishankar said he and Araghchi discussed the evolving situation in and around Iran.

”Received a call from Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi. @araghchi,” the external affairs minister said on social media. ”We discussed the evolving situation in and around Iran,” he said.

The conversation between the two foreign ministers came on a day India asked all its nationals residing in Iran to leave by available means.

Iran has been witnessing massive anti-government protests in which 3,428 protesters lost their lives.

There has been rising tensions in Iran and the region after US President Donald Trump indicated military action if Tehran continues its crackdown on the protesters.

Trump on Tuesday said in a CBS News interview that the United States would act if Iran began hanging protesters.

“We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” said the American leader, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention.

“When they start killing thousands of people – and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” Trump said.

Iranian authorities called the American warnings a “pretext for military intervention”.

Rights groups accuse the government of fatally shooting protesters and masking the scale of the crackdown with an internet blackout imposed on January 8.

Internet monitor Netblocks said in a post to X on Wednesday that the blackout had now lasted 132 hours.

Some information has trickled out of Iran however. New videos on social media, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.

The US president has already announced a 25 per cent tariff on countries having trade with Tehran.

The protests began late last month in Tehran after the Iranian currency rial plunged to record lows. The protests have since spread to all 31 provinces, evolving from an agitation against economic woes to a demand for political change.

With inputs from agencies