Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan, with the two leaders reviewing bilateral ties and developments in West Asia. Modi reiterated India’s call for dialogue and diplomacy and stressed the need to safeguard freedom of navigation and commerce. Also in focus: the Supreme Court’s decision on the CJP’s proposed September 5 protest march in Delhi, the worsening flood crisis in Nepal, the latest challenge to E20 petrol blending, Delhi’s draft electoral rolls after the SIR exercise, and The Hindu’s editorial on the UN CERD report on India.