Union minister for commerce and industry Anand Sharma said on Wednesday that an Indian business delegation would still visit Iran despite a string of bomb attacks blamed on the increasingly isolated Islamic republic.
Mr Sharma said during a trade visit to Pakistan that terrorism and trade were “separate issues”, adding that the perpetrators behind Monday’s bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat’s car in New Delhi had yet to be established.
“I am sure that our investigating agencies will identify and bring to justice the perpetrators,” said Mr Sharma.
Israel said Tehran was responsible for the attack which badly injured an Israeli woman, but Sharma insisted the matter had to be dealt with through the legal process.
“Let’s be very, very clear, an act of terrorism has to be dealt as per the law,” he said.
India said last week it would send a “huge” trade mission by the end of this month to Iran to explore business opportunities created by sanctions imposed by the West over the Islamic republic’s disputed nuclear programme. Iran is India’s second-largest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia, providing arou-nd 12 per cent of the fast-growing country’s crude needs. India says it will abide only by UN sanctions.