New Delhi [India], March 19 (ANI): The United States Ambassador to India, Ambassador Sergio Gor held an 'extremely fruitful' meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, highlighting ongoing collaboration on security and geopolitical issues between the two countries.

The ambassador talked about the meeting in a post on X on Wednesday, saying, 'Just wrapped up an extremely fruitful meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Covered critical security & geopolitical issues. Strategic cooperation between the United States and India continues to advance.'

https://x.com/usambindia/status/2034258784709755319

Meanwhile, former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in Geneva, Dilip Sinha, has said the recent killing of the Iranian top official and security chief, Ali Larijani, by Israel is unlikely to cripple Tehran's decision-making, reflecting Iran's long-term preparation for such conflicts.

'This war is likely to run into a war of attrition. It is dragging on. Iran has surprised everybody with its capacity to hold on against such a superpower as the US and a very powerful country like Israel, which means that Iran has been preparing for this kind of invasion for a very long time, and they are prepared not only in terms of the drones and missiles that they have acquired and stationed but also in terms of the way they have hidden these missiles in stores which are not easily accessible,' he told ANI.

Commenting on the impact of Larijani's death, Sinha noted, 'The other important thing that you mentioned about Ali Larijani getting killed, earlier, Ayatollah Khomeini was killed, and several other senior Iranian leaders have been killed. But despite that, decision-making in Iran seems to be taking place fairly well. People are still attacking all the countries around the Gulf, which means that Iran had also prepared for decentralised decision-making as part of its preparation for such an invasion.'

'So that even when the top leadership was wiped out, Iran's decision-making capacity has not been crippled. It has obviously decentralised not only its weaponry, but also its decision-making process, which has enabled it to drag on this war for so long and we don't know how long it will be able to do it,' he added.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has confirmed that Israel killed Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib in an overnight attack, marking the third assassination of a high-ranking Iranian official in two days, Al Jazeera reported.

The announcement on Wednesday comes hours after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz claimed the Iranian minister had been killed, as per Al Jazeera.

Iranian security chief Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij paramilitary force, were also killed in Israeli air strikes on Tuesday. (ANI)