The Indian government criticized Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei over his remarks about the maltreatment of Muslims in India on Monday, reminding him of his government’s treatment of minorities in Iran.
“We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. “These are misinformed and unacceptable. Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others.”
The statement appears to be a direct response to a post on Khamenei’s official account on X (formerly Twitter) a few hours earlier. “The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah,” the post read. “We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in Myanmar, Gaza, India, or any other place.”
India and Iran have occasionally clashed over Muslim rights, although such instances are relatively rare and the two countries maintain positive relations.
In 2019, Khamenei stirred diplomatic ripples when he urged the Indian government to adopt a “just” approach toward Kashmir, which is a majority-Muslim region disputed by India and Pakistan.
A year later, Iran’s former foreign minister Javad Zarif lamented the violence against Muslims during the Delhi riots. In response, India summoned the Iranian ambassador to convey dismay.
India is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the world. The current Indian government led by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), has often drawn criticism from Muslim countries over treatment of its Muslim minority, most notably in 2019 when it introduced the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), granting fast-track citizenship to refugees from neighboring countries excluding Muslims.
The Islamic Republic, based on Shia Islam, is a major violator of minorities rights, especially non-Muslim religious communities such as Baha'is and smaller offshoots of the Islamic faith. Christian converts also are harassed and imprisoned. Even Iran's Sunnis are heavily discriminated against, including not being allowed to build their own mosques in major cities.
