India’s friendship with Jordan was catalysed by a meeting in Tehran in 1949

On a warm morning in August 1949, a car with the Indian Tricolour mounted on its front fender entered the tightly-guarded Sahib Qarania Palace in Tehran. Built in the mid-19th century, the palace was playing host to a valued guest: Abdullah I bin Al-Hussein, the ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Waiting in the car to meet him was Syed Ali Zaheer, the Indian ambassador to Iran who had served as the law minister in the provisional government of India in 1946.

Their meeting would be the highest level of contact between newly-independent India and Jordan since a brief interaction between the king and the Indian envoy to Egypt in 1948. No formal diplomatic relations existed between the nations at the time, nor did India have a mission in Amman. Abdullah was therefore keen to meet the Indian ambassador in Tehran.

Within two years of gaining independence, India had managed to generate great goodwill in West Asia. One key reason for this was New Delhi’s decision in 1947 to oppose the UN Resolution that partitioned Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Jordan, a participant in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, was among the countries that highly appreciated India’s stance on Israel.

At the meeting in Tehran,...

Read more