As the Taliban in Afganistan gains ground after the withdrawal of the NATO forces, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in a surprise diplomatic visit to Iran, met with President-elect Ebrahim Raisi which is a rare gesture by Iran when to allow the incoming president meet a visiting foreign dignitary.

Jaishankar is now the first foreign dignitary and senior minister from the Modi government to meet Iran’s hard-liner President-elect Raisi to succeed Hassan Rouhani.

During the meeting, Jaishankar delivered a written congratulatory message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President-elect Raisi and both sides agreed on the necessity to strengthen inter-Afghan dialogue leading and later a statement was issued by the Iranian foreign ministry.

The date of India’s EAM’s travel to Iran, however, coincided with a delegation of Taliban officials led by Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai visiting Iran from Doha to promote intra-Afghan talks following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“Thank President-elect Ebrahim Raisi for his gracious welcome. Handed over a personal message from PM @narendramodi. Appreciate his warm sentiments for India. Deeply value his strong commitment to strengthen our bilateral ties and expand cooperation on regional and global issues (sic),” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

According to Iran’s foreign ministry, Jaishankar had “thanked Iran for its efforts” for bringing the Afghan government and the Taliban leaders “closer to a comprehensive political solution” even as the intra-Afghan talks remained in a stalemate.

The talks with Iran also featured Oil Trade, the future of the Chabahar Port, and the resumption of oil imports from Iran, which were stopped in May 2019 due to American sanctions under the Trump administration.

India is now cautiously watching the Joe Biden administration and the lifting of the sanctions as New Delhi is keen to resume the bilateral trade with Iran on oil and petrochemicals.

For India in order to remain relevant in Afganistan, the Chabahar Port is critical as it gives India connectivity and trade to Afghanistan.

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India has supplied a consignment of two Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC) to Iran’s Chabahar port, with a total contract value of over $25 Million under a contract agreement for supply of six MHC. The consignment of cranes, which arrived from Italy’s Marghera port, was unloaded successfully on January 18, 2021 at the Chabahar port. The cranes are currently undergoing trials run.

With a lifting capacity of 140 metric tons, the equipment will enable India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) to provide seamless services for container, bulk and general cargo at the Shahid Beheshti port, Chabahar. This step shows India’s commitment towards infrastructure development of the port.

The $85 million bilateral contract between the Iran and India was signed on 23 May 2016, ‎for the equipping, mechanizing and starting operations at Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar development Phase- I. To achieve this ambitious aim, an Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) Mumbai was incorporated under the ambit of the Ministry of Ports, ‎Shipping and Waterways.

India’s Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Mansukh Mandaviya said that the Chabahar Port is a strategic port with great national importance. The delivery of consignment of heavy equipment, including cranes, shows India’s commitment to the strategic connectivity of Chabahar port project with the expectations that will provide access to markets in Central Asia. Development of the Chabahar port is the anchor for the expansion of economic and mutual relations between India and Iran, and it is hoped to give a further boost to the maritime trade between both countries.

The location of Chabahar Port has strategic advantage and high potential to provide connectivity and increase trade between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), especially the eastern CIS countries.

(Published from PIB)

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Saturday fired long-range ballistic missiles over a distance of 1800 km into the Indian Ocean on the second day of a military drill. Codenamed ‘Great Prophet-15’, the manoeuver consisted of the detection of hostile mock warships by the surveillance systems of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force, and their destruction using ballistic missiles of various classes within a 1,800 km range.

American news outlets reported that the missiles landed 20 miles from a commercial vessel and 100 miles from the the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. At least two Iranian ballistic missiles sent pieces of debris splashing in all directions after they exploded on impact with the ocean.

“One of our most important defence policy goals is to use long-range ballistic missiles against enemy warships, including aircraft carriers and warships,” said the IRGC commander-in-chief Major General Hossein Salami. With these missiles, which have a range of 1,800 kilometres, he said, “we can now strike moving targets in the ocean,” instead of the usual low-speed cruise missiles.

Chief of Staff General Mohammad Baqeri said that while Iran had “no offensive intentions”, it would now be able to “respond to any hostile and malicious act in the shortest time”.

The targets for Saturday’s missile drills were in the Gulf of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean. It followed Friday’s testing of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and locally manufactured new drones in the same area. On Wednesday, Iran tested short-range naval missiles in the Gulf. Earlier this month, Iran also held exercises that featured a wide range of domestically produced drones.

The gamut of military exercises comes amid the end of President Trump’s administration, which oversaw a turbulent period in the US-Iran relations. After President Trump abandoned Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal and reinstated harsh sanctions against Tehran, periodic confrontations between the Iranian and US militaries in the Gulf have  become much more frequent.

Iran has also vowed revenge against the US and Trump for the killing of Iran’s Major General Qassem Soleimani January last year. An Iranian court also issued an arrest warrant against President Trump on the charge of premeditated murder. While it is highly unlikely that it will be carried out, the warrant is symbolic in the waning days of the Trump presidency.

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Iran has confirmed that its underground nuclear facility Natanz was damaged due to a fire and said that it has caused a significant impact on its new centrifuge assembly centre. Initially, the authorities had downplayed the incident and claimed that it had only affected and “industrial shed”. It has now been confirmed that it had damaged the entire centrifuge assembly centre which had been opened in 2018.

It is suspected that Iran is using the coronavirus crisis to bolster its nuclear program. Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards Navy Chief said on Sunday that Tehran had built search underground missile cities and said that they existed in all provinces of Iran. Natanz is the centrepiece of Iran’s enrichment programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes. Western intelligence agencies and the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog (IAEA) believe it had a coordinated, clandestine nuclear arms programme that it halted in 2003. Tehran denies ever seeking nuclear weapons.

There has been a lot of pointing fingers in this issue, since the United States and Israel are suspected to be behind this as Iran had recently issued an arrest warrant against US President Donald Trump. The suspicion comes after a recent computer virus that was expected to be developed by the United States and Israel had attacked the server of Natanz.

While the US has refrained from commenting on this, Israel’s defence minister had said on Sunday that it was not ‘necessarily’ behind every incident in Iran.

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Iranian authorities have locked down on three men, who had reportedly attempted selling babies on Instagram, the social media platform. A 20-day old baby and a 2-month-old infant were rescued from them while the third one has been identified, but is yet to be found. One of those arrested allegedly said he was “getting babies from poor families” and “handing them over to families who could provide a better future”.

The rescued babies were apparently advertised for 400 to 500 million Iranian Riyals, which is about $9000 to $11,800. They were allegedly bought from ‘poor families’ for 50 to 150 million Iranian Riyals.

Police had made the arrests after being alerted about “ads on Instagram for selling babies”. The officers uncovered “10 to 15 such pages” on the photo-sharing service and found the two babies with the three men who were arrested, he said. The babies were handed over to social services.

Speaking about this a spokesperson of the microblogging site had said that this was under investigation and that they strictly do not support such illegal exploitation or trafficking activities.

Iran is one of the 21 ‘tier three’ countries Listed under the United States ‘Annual Trafficking in Persons’ report, meaning that it one of the highest numbers of human trafficking offenders in the world.

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An explosion was reported at Sina Athar hospital in the northern region of Tehran, followed by a fire. It resulted in damage to the buildings in the area as thick black smoke was sent to the atmosphere.

Patients in the clinic were reported to be evacuated on wheelchairs. According to an Emergency official, it was caused due to an explosion of a cylinder at the medical center.

The death toll from the incident has crossed 15 while 14 were injured.

Tehran’s police chief, Hossein Rahimi told the Islamic Society of North America that ten of the casualties were women.

Tehran Fire Department Spokesman explains in detail to State TV that first gas canisters in the clinic’s basement caught fire resulting in an explosion. Victims of the explosion were on the upper floors in operating rooms. The fire was extinguished around two hours after.

This was followed by another explosion that occurred near a military facility in Tehran.

“My deepest sympathies go out to the families of the victims, particularly the patients, who lost their lives in the catastrophic fire in Tehran’s Sina Clinic. My heartfelt condolences to all the people of Tehran. Wishing quick recovery of those hurt and injured in the fire,” said Maryam Rajavi who is the leader of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran.

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Iranian media reported an accident at the Gulf of Oman, in which nineteen sailors have been killed and 15 have been injured during a naval ‘friendly fire’.

The Konarak, an Iranian support ship, was hit by a new anti-ship test missile during a naval exercise by the frigate Jamaran on Sunday. This accident happened near the Strait of Hormuz, a point of strategic importance as one fifth of the world’s oil passes through it.

The Navy reported that investigations have begun on this issue and that the ship has been docked ashore.

Iran’s navy said in a statement that, “On Sunday evening… during naval exercises performed by a number of the naval force’s vessels in the waters of Jask and Chabahar, an accident happened involving the Konarak light support ship vessel, causing the martyrdom of a number of brave members of the naval forces”, further adding that the Konarak had been taken to a port for “technical inspection”, without mentioning about the accident.

Iran is seeking to broaden the sphere of its naval operations and to upgrade its warships’ armament. The frigate Jamaran is part of a new class of home-built vessels intended to set a new course for Iran’s navy.

This isn’t the first time that the armed forces of Iran have gotten into trouble. In January 2019, they had fired two surface-to-air missiles at an unidentified target, bringing down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all those on board.

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