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NEW DELHI: Top Indian and Iranian security officials met in New Delhi on Monday, the foreign ministry said, as security chiefs gathered for a BRICS meeting that also included China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met Iranian official Ghadir Nezamipour, a senior member of Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council, and discussed the “ongoing situation” in the Middle East, as well as India-Iran ties, the foreign ministry said.

India has long maintained cordial ties with Iran but has had to carefully balance its relationship with the United States, especially during the recent weeks of conflict in the Middle East.

India is heavily dependent on imported energy and its fuel supplies were hit hard during the US-Iran war.