'Misinformed and unacceptable': India hits out at Iran's supreme leader's remarks

New Delhi, Sep 16: India on Monday strongly reacted to remarks by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the "suffering" of the Muslim community in the south Asian country, along with in Gaza and Myanmar.

"We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran. These are misinformed and unacceptable," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

"Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making observations about others," it added.

The Iranian supreme leader made the remark about Indian Muslims in his message to the community, stressing unity, on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed’s birth anniversary.

"The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah. 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," he said in a post on his X handle.

However, various Iranian media outlets did not mention India in reports about his comments purportedly made at a meeting with Sunni clerics across the country at the beginning of the "Islamic Unity Week" on Monday.

This was not the first time that Iran's supreme leader has spoken about Indian Muslims. In August 2019, he had also commented on the revocation of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir.