Iran's Envoy: Khamenei Loved India, Insisted on Strong Bilateral Cooperation

He made the remarks in an exclusive interview to ANI.

Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi said, "The friendship between Iran and India is rooted in more than five thousand years. Iranians connected to Indians through cultural, through civilization, through philosophy and spirituality. Late our Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Uzma Sayyid Ali Khamenei, the first book he wrote was about India, and it's in two volume. This means he loved India. And several times he was insisting on the good collaboration, cooperation between Iran and India."

He added, "Even his son also, because whenever I was going back to Iran, I was meeting him, and he was insisting on good collaboration with India and was praising the Indians. He was saying: "They are very loyal, they are very honest, they are very kind, they are very smart, they are very good people."

Ilahi further told ANI, "So we never want to have any kind of problems in our relationship and friendship, and I'm sure that there is not any conflict and any problem in our relationship which started long ago and it will continue."

During the interview, he also rejected the claims made by US President Donald Trump that Tehran is seeking negotiations as the conflict in West Asia escalates, Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, the representative in India of Iran's Supreme Leader, on Saturday, dismissed these assertions, saying Tehran is prepared to continue the war "even for five years".

Speaking in an interview with ANI, Ilahi firmly denied that Iran currently wants to enter into negotiations with the United States, noting that it was Washington that targeted Tehran in the middle of negotiations.

"No. Never ever. Iran never wants at the moment to negotiate with them because they started this war. And we have experiences with them. Two times we were negotiating with them, and they attacked us. They targeted us," he said.

Ilahi stated that Tehran would not submit to its enemies and was prepared for a prolonged conflict if necessary. Drawing parallels with the conflict between Iran and Iraq, the representative said that Iran had experience in sustaining a long war.

"I don't know any deadline for this war. But what I know is that Iran is ready to continue this war to the end, even for five years. And we have experience in the war. We had eight years of experience of the war between Iran and Iraq at that time. And we are ready. And if you go to the streets of Iran, you will see all the people are there, and they are chanting for retaliation. And they say we are ready to give our blood, but we are not ready to give our land," he said.

Ilahi also said Iran had attempted several times to avoid escalation in the region and had urged neighbouring countries to help prevent conflict in the Middle East.

"We didn't want war. Several times, we tried to avoid any type of war in the region. Even though we informed our neighbours that they have to try to avoid the region of this war because the region cannot tolerate any more war," he said.

His remarks come amid the developing security situation in West Asia and the Gulf where US-Israeli strikes resulted in the killing of 86-year-old Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The current round of conflict in West Asia, which started on February 28, has witnessed fighting between Israel and the United States on one side and Iran on the other.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed serious concern over the escalating crisis in West Asia, warning that the situation poses a major threat to global peace and security. Earlier in a post on X, Guterres said the unfolding conflict has caused immense suffering for civilians and urged all sides to move towards de-escalation and dialogue.

Calling for an immediate end to hostilities, the UN chief emphasised that diplomacy remains the only viable path forward.

- ANI