Decoding Iranian supreme leader Khamenei's comments on Kashmir

On Monday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei marked his Eid-ul-Fitr prayers by stating that the  “Muslim world should openly support people of Bahrain, Kashmir, Yemen, etc and repudiate oppressors and tyrants who attacked people in Ramadan.”

He further said: “Issues surrounding Bahrain, Yemen and various issues in other Muslim countries wound the Islamic body as a whole.”

This is the first time in seven years that Khamenei has brought up alleged human rights violations in Kashmir. The last such occasion was in 2010. It had followed India's vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and New Delhi was seen in Tehran to be gravitating towards the US and Israel.

Khamenei’s latest comments come at a time when the prospect of an Iran-US confrontation has increased under the Donald Trump administration. Earlier this month, Khamenei termed the “threats” from Trump as “distasteful” but nothing new.

The mood in the street in both Israel and Iran is decidedly turning bellicose towards each other. Last week, a Russian Defence Ministry statement speculated that the deployment by Pentagon of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems into Syrian territory from Jordan indicated the US intention to attack the Iran-backed Syrian government forces.

It is in this backdrop that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the United States to meet Trump. From July 4 to 6, Modi is slated to visit Israel, the first Indian head of government to do so since 1947. These developments also come in the wake increased violence in Kashmir.

On Sunday, in a series of tweets from his official Twitter handle, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu termed Modi’s forthcoming Israel visit as “historic” and said India-Israel ties are on a “constant upswing”.

But India-Iran relations have improved in recent years. Prime Minister Modi visited Tehran in May 2016. The two countries have also been pushing for early completion of work related to the Chabahar Port and trying to increase bilateral trade.

New Delhi had taken steps to overcome the bitterness of 2010. That year, it had abstained on a UNHRC resolution on human rights violations in Iran. In 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Tehran and also met Khamenei.

While India is yet to react to the statement by the Iranian Supreme Leader, the latest development and India's pronounced pro-US and pro-Israel tilt  could impact the work on Chabahar and affect recent India-Iran strategic understanding on regional issues.

Over the years, Iran has been the bulwark against the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) moved resolutions on Kashmir in international forums.

A story recounted often among former diplomats of a certain vintage is how Tehran saved New Delhi the blushes on Kashmir in March 1994.

Many in India would still remember the happy faces of the triumvirate of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Farooq Abdullah and Salman Khurshid emerging out of the conference room of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva after a diplomatic victory over Pakistan.

Pakistan, with support from Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) and some Western countries, had moved a resolution to condemn New Delhi’s alleged human right violations in Kashmir. After approval of the UNHRC, the resolution was to be referred to the UN Security Council and could have led to economic sanctions on India.

The then PM PV Narasimha Rao had sent Vajpayee, Abdullah and his minister of state for external affairs Khurshid to Geneva to plead India’s case.

But unknown to these three was how Rao had sent his ailing External Affairs Minister Dinesh Singh to Tehran just days before the conference in Geneva. Singh managed to convince the Iranian leadership, who backed out of the OIC resolution. Since OIC resolutions are adopted on the principle of consensus, Iran’s withdrawal killed the resolution.

Interestingly, Khamenei had visited Kashmir sometime in late-1980 or early 1981 and delivered a speech, according a write up on his website.