IRIAF aircraft of Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10

Observations made on recently released, undated photos uploaded at AJA.ir

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D fighter-bomber of 101st TFS, before hardened aircraft shelter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D "Dowran" fighter-bomber of 101st TFS. Note in background air traffic control tower for Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D "Dowran" fighter-bomber takeing flight at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D "Dowran" fighter-bomber. Note emblem on intake denoting "Dowran" specification upgrade of Phantom II by IACA.

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D fighter-bombers of 101st TFS, taxiing at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D fighter-bombers of 101st TFS, take flight at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber, taxiing at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber aircrew of 101st TFS

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber of 101st TFS, taxiing at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber of 101st TFS, depicting night operating of aircraft at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

Ground crew servicing of IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber, within hardened aircraft shelter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber, serial 3-6697 / 14878 (cn 3213)

Partially disassembled IRIAF McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II fighter-bomber

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1EQ multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS, taking off at at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ and F1BQ multi-role fighters of 102nd TFS, at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS, taxiing at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighter pilot of 102nd TFS

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS, taking off at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter. Note emblem on side of intake.

Ground crew direction of IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

Climb of IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter of 102nd TFS

Climb of two IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighters from Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighters of 102nd TFS, at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10

Dassault Mirage F1BQ multi-role fighter beside hardened aircraft shelter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

Said to be Iranian-built flight simulator for Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighter

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1 multi-role fighter in state of partial disassembly, hardened aircraft shelter at Chabahar/Shahidan Dellhamed TAB-10.

IRIAF Dassault Mirage F1EQ6, serial 3-6212 (IrAF #4651) still retaining anti-ship grey scheme from previous IrAF service.

Photos: Nahaja.Aja.ir

Sharif in Tehran

A Visit Amid Increasingly Tense Relations between Iran and Pakistan

Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrived in Tehran on Sunday on a two-day visit to meet with senior Iranian leaders. Today he met with President Rouhani and Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, the de facto leader of the moderate and reformist bloc, and would later meet with Ayatollah Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader. 

A high-ranking delegation including adviser to the prime minister on national security affairs, finance and oil ministers, and Baluchistan chief minister have  accompanied the prime minister.

Pakistan is increasingly becoming close to Saudi Arabia, Iran’s chief rival in the region, a fact that is of major concern to Iran. Iranians suspect that its heralded project to build a gas pipeline to Pakistan was cancelled by the Pakistanis because of pressure from Saudi Arabia. 

Iran is also starting a major transportation project with India, Pakistan’s chief rival, with bilateral implications. The Indians will invest in the Iranian port of Chabahar transforming it into the main facility for handling the expected huge volume of iron ore and other minerals carried from Afghanistan through railway link to the port for transshipment to India and other Asian destinations. The Indians are one of the main investors in Afghanistan's burgeoning mining industry. The move would deprive Pakistan’s port of Gwadar, in near proximity to Chabahar, from becoming the gateway for Afghan mineral exports.

The increasingly tense relations between the two countries notwithstanding, Sharif will try to define a better working relations with Iran, albeit limited, to address security issues at their long border in Baluchistan region and increase the volume of trade between the two countries.

Photo credit: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (r) greeting Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Tehran, 11 May 2014 (Mona Hoobehfekr/ISNA) 

Iran’s Chabahar Port to Link Afghanistan and India

Iran, Afghanistan and India will soon sign an agreement on the Iranian port of Chabahar on the Gulf on Oman to link Afghanistan with India, said Shakib Mostaghni, spokesman for Afghan ministry of foreign affairs. (IRNA, 25 March)

The landlocked Afghanistan would need a major seaport to export its newly found huge mineral deposits. The mines, including some of the largest unexplored copper, iron and gold deposits in the world, were identified and mapped by U.S. Defense Department’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) in 2009-2011. They also include significant lithium and rare earth metals.

To use Chahbahar, Afghanistan needs to send the ores to railhead to be constructed in Herat for transshipment through Iranian railway system to Chabahar. The railway linking Iran to Herat is under construction by the Iranians, but its completion has been constantly delayed due to right-of-passage for property owners and other issues.

Chabahar, a deep-sea port on the Gulf of Oman in Iranian Baluchistan, is a short distance away for Gwadar Port on Pakistani side of Baluchistan on the Arabian Sea. Shipping mineral ores from central and eastern Afghanistan straight through Pakistan to Gwadar is a viable alternative. However, tense relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and security issues at their border regions make Chabahar an attractive route to bypass Pakistan altogether.

File photo: Port of Chabahar in Iranian Baluchistan on the Gulf of Oman (IRNA)     

India to Invest in Chabahar Port

India announced it will invest $100 million in Iran’s Chabahar Port on the Sea of Oman, Mehr News Agency reported today. India is also planning to invest in 1,000 km (620 miles) Mashad-Chabahar railroad.

When and if both projects are completed, India can transport iron ore from Hajigak mines in Afghanistan, which an Indian consortium has won its concession, to Iranian border near Mashad and on to Chabahar for sea transport to India, bypassing Pakistan. The ore transport from Afghanistan to India without transshipment through Pakistan was a major challenge for the Indian consortium.

File photo: Iran’s Chabahar Port on Sea of Oman (IRNA) 

Suicide Bomber Attacks Mosque in Chabahar

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque in Chabahar, a major port city in the Iranian Baluchistan, killing two members of Iran’s Basij militia, and injuring six other people. The Friday’s attack occurred during the Friday’s Prayer at the city’s Imam Hossein mosque. The bomber was reportedly spotted before getting inside and set off his explosive belt a few hundred meters outside the mosque. No further details were available at this time.

Afghan-Iran Joint Commission Meet in Kabul

Chabahar Transformation as Gateway for Afghanistan

The fourth meeting of the joint commission for cooperation between Afghanistan and Iran ended its work in Kabul on Wednesday. The foreign ministers of Iran and Afghanistan led their country’s delegation in the talks. On top of the agenda, was the transformation of Iran’s Chahbahar Port as the gateway of a new transit route for Afghanistan.

“From now on, no one can say Afghanistan is a land locked country. Afghanistan, rather, is a country, like every other country, that has access to the open waters, and this is a great achievement for the government and people of Afghanistan and a great achievement for the government and people of Iran,”
 said Iran Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. (Bakhtiar News, 6 September)

Photo credit: Iran Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (left) and his Afgan counterpart Zalmai Rassoul sign an MoU on bilateral cooperation at the end of the Joint Commission meeting. Kabul, 6 September (Bakhtiar News)