Jaishankar Meets Russian, Iranian Counterparts at UNGA; Reviews Gulf Ties
On the UNGA margins, EAM S. Jaishankar held talks with Russia's Sergey Lavrov and Iran's Abbas Araghchi, and co-chaired India-GCC and AI-maritime security meetings.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a series of engagements in New York on the margins of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, including separate meetings with his Russian and Iranian counterparts, days after United States President Donald Trump signed legislation expanding sanctions on countries purchasing oil and gas from Moscow and Tehran.
In his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Mr. Jaishankar said the two sides exchanged views on a range of ongoing issues and took stock of bilateral cooperation as well as coordination within BRICS. A Russian readout of the talks said the ministers reviewed key aspects of Russian-Indian cooperation, the schedule of forthcoming bilateral contacts, and current regional and global developments, including the Ukraine crisis and the situation in the Middle East. Both sides expressed their intention to keep working to strengthen what they describe as a special and privileged strategic partnership, and to maintain close coordination at the United Nations, in the G20, BRICS and other international groupings.
India hosted the BRICS Leaders' Summit earlier this month, which was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Mr. Jaishankar also met Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, with the conversation centred on the latest developments relating to the Gulf conflict. He said the two would remain in touch.
The meetings follow Mr. Trump's signing last week of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which authorises and expands statutory sanctions, tariffs and prohibitions on Russia and extends existing sanctions on Iran. The law empowers the US President to impose sanctions on Russia and steep tariffs on its trading partners, including India and China, in the oil and gas sector. India has said it remains firmly committed to ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people and will continue to do so through diversified sourcing.
On another day of engagements, Mr. Jaishankar co-chaired the India-Gulf Cooperation Council Troika Ministerial Meeting, where he reviewed progress on the India-GCC Joint Action Plan 2024-28 and discussed ways to advance the partnership. India welcomed the launch of negotiations for an India-GCC free trade agreement and expressed interest in deepening ties in trade, investment, energy, food security, health, new technologies, culture and people-to-people exchanges, while thanking GCC leaderships for their support to the Indian community. India also reiterated its commitment to freedom of navigation and the safety of seafarers and commercial shipping.
Mr. Jaishankar additionally co-chaired an event on artificial intelligence in the context of international peace and security, with an emphasis on maritime security, alongside Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis. He stressed the need to harness the possibilities offered by AI while anticipating its consequences and mitigating its risks, calling for an approach that enables innovation while remaining conscious of its security implications. He noted that the New Delhi Declaration emphasises democratic access to AI resources, secure and trustworthy systems, investment in human capabilities, and the use of AI for economic growth and social good.
In the maritime domain, he said AI can strengthen maritime domain awareness, search and rescue, disaster response, the identification of suspicious activity, and the resilience of ports and critical infrastructure. At the same time, it can enable sophisticated reconnaissance, vulnerability mapping and cyber operations targeting vessels, communication networks and undersea infrastructure. He underlined that growing autonomy in maritime systems raises questions of attribution, accountability and escalation while compressing decision-making time, and pointed out that the UN Charter and international law, including the law of the sea, remain essential frameworks governing state conduct. Greater transparency, confidence-building, capacity development, technical cooperation and the exchange of best practices are essential to ensure AI is developed and used in line with these principles, he said.