Iranian President Rouhani keen to visit India, says envoy

Hyderabad: The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani has expressed his interest to travel to India and the two countries are preparing grounds for the visit, said Mohammed Haghbin Ghomi, the Consul General of Iran in Hyderabad.

"A great deal of progress has been made between the leaders of both the countries. The visit of the President of Iran is in response to Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi s visit to Iran recently," the Iranian envoy said in a press conference.

"In the west Asia region, India and Iran are two decisive powers that can cooperate in various fields complementarily," he added.

As part of strengthening of bilateral relations, focus would be on economic and business relations besides cultural affairs, he said. The CG also said that the Iranian Government is presently working on a proposal from a private airline to connect Hyderabad and Iran by a direct flight.

He condemned the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and termed it as "imprudent and provocative".

The CG called on the international community, Islamic states in particular, to intervene and "stop the implementation of the US decision because it only serves the Zionist regime s interests".