Iran Navy '33rd Fleet' at Kochi, India

Iran and India media imagery from 24FEB15 of Islamic Republic of Iran Navy "33rd Fleet" at Kochi, India

Exchange of gifts between Captain M.R. Ahmadi Kermanshahi, commander of the IRIN 33rd Fleet and Vice Admiral S.P.S. Cheema, commander-in-chief of Southern Naval Command.  [photo: The New Indian Express]

Iran Navy 33rd Fleet, comprising IRINS Shahid Admiral Naghdi corvette and IRINS Bandar Abbas replenishment ship, arrived at Kochi, India on 24MAR15 for a four-day visit.

Plans include meetings between naval commanders and exchange visits by specialist officers and men from both navies; with Indian Navy personnel touring IRIN vessels and IRIN personnel touring the Indian Navy training facilities at Southern Naval Command.

Left: IRINS Shahid Admiral Naghdi (82) Bayandor class (PF 103 type) corvette (FS)

Right: IRINS Bandar Abbas (421) Bandar Abbas class light replenishment ship (AORLH)

Naval officer students from Iman Khomeini University for Naval Science, aboard IRINS Bandar Abbas

Background: crew of IRINS Shahid Admiral Naghdi

IRIN naval commando master chief petty officer, at 20 mm Oerlikon cannon station

Background: utility boat of IRINS Shahid Admiral Naghdi

INS Kabra (T76) Car Nicobar class high-speed offshore patrol vessel

Indian Navy Solas Marine fast interceptor craft T410. Note in background: Petronet's liquefied natural gas terminal at Puthuvype.

IRINS Bandar Abbas assisted by M.V. Balavan tug (IMO:9044360)

Indian Navy military band receiving IRIN 33rd Fleet at Kochi, India

The Church of Our Lady of Hope, also known as “Nossa Senhora Da Esperança." Site of historical interest located at the island of Vypeen where Vembanad Lake merges with the Arabian Sea, across from Fort Kochi. Founded by the Portuguese in 1605 A.D.

See also:
Iran Navy '33rd Fleet' at Colombo, Sri Lanka [click HERE]
Iran Navy '33rd Fleet' at Jakart, Indonesia [click HERE]

Iran media imagery: Mahdi Marizad at Fars News Agency

In Celebration of 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi – a Muslim education activist from Pakistan and a Hindu child slavery abolitionist from India – are recipients of Nobel Peace Prize; 10 October 2014 (HuffPost)

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)     

Iran Nuclear Negotiations 'Going Well' - Zarif

Iran's nuclear negotiations are “going well,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif ahead of a meeting of IAEA Board of Directors next week. Iran and P5+1 will hold technical talks on the sidelines of the IAEA gathering.

Political directors of both sides will also resume talks on 17 March in Vienna.

“The negotiations are going well ... I'm hoping by the first deadline (20 July) we will reach an agreement," Zarif said. He made his comments in New Delhi during the R.K. Mishra Memorial Lecture series.

Zarif will hold talks with senior Indian officials during his two-day visit, which began this morning. He said he wanted to open a “new chapter” in Indo-Iranian relations. (AFP, 27 February)

Photo credit: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif speaks during the fifth R.K. Mishra Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, 27 February 2014. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP)

India to Reconsider IPI Gas Pipeline

Indian Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid said India may join the multi-billion dollar Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline to import natural gas from Iran that would pass through Pakistan, Fars News Agency reported today.

The original agreement signed before the latest U.S. and EU sanctions was imposed against Iran was to build a so-called Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, linking Iran’s rich Assalouyeh gas field to the two countries. Iran finished its share of pipeline construction up to the Pakistani border in Iranian Baluchistan.

India reneged on the agreement, citing new sanctions imposed against developing such pipeline. Pakistan then announced that it was ready to participate in the project alone, but also backed off from the agreement last summer saying Iran could not finance the construction costs of the pipeline inside Pakistan as previously expected.

Now in light of the Geneva agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and the expectation that a comprehensive deal could be reached soon, lifting all  sanctions against Iran’s oil and gas industry, India is apparently reconsidering its position.

“If there is seriousness from all sides, we are ready to import natural gas from Iran and Central Asia through Pakistan,” Khurshid said in New Delhi on Thursday. (Fars News Agency)

Meanwhile, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said in Ankara today that Turkey can double gas imports from Iran if the two sides could agree on a price.

The Iranian export of gas to Turkey during the sanctions, the so-called “gas-for-gold” scheme, has caused an on-going scandal in that country.

Iran Navy '28th Fleet' task force sets out for India and Sri Lanka

According to FARS News Agency:

The Iranian Navy's Tareq-class submarine, 'Younus', was dispatched to the East Asian waters, a Navy commander announced on Wednesday.

“The (Iranian) Navy will dispatch the ultra heavy Tareq-class submarine, ‘Younus’ as part of the Navy’s 28th flotilla of warships to the countries of East Asia,” Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Navy for Operations Admiral Siyavash Jarreh said Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the 28th flotilla left the harbor in Southern Iran.

He underlined Iran's sophisticated technology in the naval industry, saying “The most complicated technology of world’s military equipment belongs to submarines.”

The Admiral said that Alborz destroyer and Bandar Abbas helicopter-carrier warship will accompany Younus in this crucially important extraterritorial mission of the Iranian Navy.

“The Navy’s 28th Flotilla will berth at Mumbai and Colombo ports during its voyage,” he added.

That would comprise:

- IRINS Yunes (903)(ex-B 220) Tareq (Kilo) class (Project 877EKM) diesel-electric submarine (SSK)

- IRINS Alborz (72)(ex-Zaal) Alvand (Vosper Mark V) class frigate (FFG)

- IRINS Bandar Abbas (421) Bandar Abbas class light replenishment ship (AORLH)

File photo: IRINS Yunes (903) diesel-electric submarine

File photo: IRINS Alborz (72) frigate

File photo: IRINS Bandar Abbas (421) light replenishment ship

Photos: Fars News Agency and IRINN

Iran Air 747 EP-IAI returns to Mumbai, India route

                                                 Operator: Iran Air
                                                 Aircraft: Boeing 747-230BM
                                                 Reg: EP-IAI (cn 22670/550)
                                                 Date: October 15, 2013
                                                 Location: CSIA, Mumbai, India
                                                 Photographer: Nishant Deshpande

                                                 Notes: After more than a year being overhauled this aircraft returned to
                                                 service in early 2013, including this Iran Air flight IR 811 from India, BOM-IKA.

Iran’s Oil Export Rises

Iran’s oil exports increased by 180,000 barrels last month, International Energy Agency (IEA) reported today. The crude exports totaled 1,170,000 barrels daily in September. (ISNA, 12 October)

The rise in China and India’s oil imports during the month was the main factor for the increase. China, Iran’s largest oil consumer purchased 555,000 barrels of Iranian oil and India bought 265,000 barrels daily. Iran’s crude output totaled 2,700,000 barrels daily in September.

File photo: Iran’s oil export terminal at Kharq Island in the Persian Gulf. (Getty Images)

India tests Agni-V nuclear-capable missile, ranging much of Eurasia

 

According to Reuters:

India successfully test-fired for a second time a nuclear-capable missile on Sunday that can reach Beijing and much of Europe, bringing a step closer production of a weapon designed to strengthen its nuclear deterrent.

The Agni-V is the most advanced version of the indigenously built Agni, or Fire, series, part of a programme that started in the 1960s. Earlier versions could reach old rival Pakistan and western China.

The Agni-V missile was first tested in April 2012. It is mostly domestically built and has a range of about 5,000 km (3,100 miles). Only the U.N. Security Council permanent members - China, France, Russia the United States and Britain - along with Israel, are believed to have such long-range weapons.

Below are potential ranges of Agni type ballistic missiles fired from Wheeler Island which is near the eastern edge of India. Provided by a department of the Indian government, the intent of this illustration is to depict potential Indian WMD targeting of Beijing, while minimizing the threat to Europe.

Unlike the United States, India (like China) has publicly renounced nuclear first strikes. Even so, Iranian defense planners have got to be vexed by nuclear weapon delivery advances within their geographical neighborhood.  There exists open source citations of at least one example of COMINT where a high ranking IRGC officer has been voiced heated criticism of Iran's non-nuclear weapon policy, Fortunately Iran's military is under civilian control, with the SL branch of IRIG accorded commander-in-chief, and MODAFL overview and responsibility selected by the executive branch.

India Seeks to Pay Iran Oil Imports Fully in Rupee

Indian Oil Secretary Vivek Rae told reporters today that India will seek paying for Iranian oil imports fully in rupees. India currently pays 45 percent of the import value of Iranian oil in rupees and Indian refiners hold back the remaining 55 percent as Iran explores avenues for alternative payment mechanisms. (Reuters, 12 September)

The value of Indian currency has sharply declined against the dollar lately and the country would prefer to settle its imports in rupee and save foreign currency.

Iranians have not said if they were ready to accept all payments in rupee. Iran has been unable to repatriate more than half its oil export revenues due to stringent banking sanctions.

Iran and India discuss expanding defense cooperation

According to Fars News Agency:

Iran's Ambassador to New Delhi Gholam Reza Ansari and Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony discussed ways of expanding mutual cooperation between two friendly states in defense fields.

During the Saturday meeting, the Indian minister and the Iranian diplomat stressed the development of bilateral defense cooperation, exploring ways to expand relations in this regard.

Pointing to achievements made by Iran and India in the defense and military industry, the Iranian envoy expressed Tehran’s readiness to enhance relations and exchange experience with New Delhi.

Years ago, Indian technicians assisted in IRIAF advanced maintenance training and IAIO complex overhaul of IRIAF MiG-29 fighter aircraft. So such a potential level of cooperation (if this was a similar level of cooperation discussed) would not be considered groundbreaking but rather something of a resumption.

 

Above: Iranian and Indian MiG-29 fighter aircraft

U.S. Issues Waivers on Iran Sanctions for China and India

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday renewed six-month waivers on Iran sanctions for China and India and seven other countries in exchange for their agreeing to reduce purchases of crude oil from Iran “significantly,” Reuters reported today.

The waivers mean that financial institutions in the consumer countries do not risk being cut off from the U.S. financial system for the next six months. U.S. and EU sanctions have cut Iran's oil exports by about half since they went into force last year, driving Iran’s crude exports to their lowest level in decades.