In a ceremony held in Amritsar, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla along with Afghan ambassador Farid Mamundzay and World Food Program Country director Bishaw Parajuli flagged off the first convoy of 50 trucks carrying the consignment.
'None of these three countries -- Turkey, Iran or Malaysia -- ever made a hostile move against India to support the Pakistan-based terrorist elements,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China on Thursday said Beijing views the BRICS as an "open and inclusive" platform and it backs moves to expand the five-member grouping with "like-minded partners".
Prices may go up because of higher energy costs, caused by the rise in shipping charges, with commercial vessels taking a longer route to avoid the troubled Red Sea region, the finance ministry said on Monday. Iran-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen are repeatedly attacking ships in the Red Sea. While the global economy is grappling with challenges such as sticky inflation, sluggish growth, and mounting fiscal pressure, India's external sector could face "potential risks" due to the ongoing geopolitical tensions, according to the finance ministry's report on the review of the Indian economy.
State Bank of India (SBI) is willing to work with Russian banks not facing sanctions and remain on the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) network to open a special rupee vostro account (SRVA) for invoicing in Indian currency. The country's largest lender in a statement said it has not been identified as the nodal bank for handling Russia-related transactions. In July, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed banks in India, including SBI, to open an SRVA to promote invoicing in Indian rupee, subject to certain safeguards. Accordingly, the bank in a statement said it is "making necessary arrangements and processing requests received from various banks, including Russian banks", following guidelines laid out by the RBI.
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz reacted angrily after a 1-1 draw with Portugal on Monday doomed his team to elimination from the World Cup, saying they had deserved to win.
The Islamic State terror group plans to seize Iran's nuclear secrets, unleash a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing and Nazi-style eugenics to consolidate and expand its self-declared caliphate, according to a seized policy manifesto of the dreaded outfit.
Clinton, who lost to President Donald Trump in the 2016 elections, claimed that both Russia and China are benefitting from his weak foreign policy.
Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif will attend the SCO defence ministers' meeting in New Delhi on Friday through virtual mode, according to an official readout.
It is time the political leaderships in this country arrived at a common ground over issues of foreign and security policy concerns. There has to be a greater communication between the government and the Opposition leaderships for the nation to present a unified face against the rest of the world, advises N Sathiya Moorthy.
Russia is among the top buyers of Indian tea, accounting for about 18 per cent of the industry's total exports.
The reimposition of sanctions on Iran will have major impact on countries like India, with which it has traditional and historic trade relationship.
If military power is all it would take to finish the menace of an awful terrorist organisation like Hamas, how come five Israeli wars in Gaza since 2003 have failed to do so? asks Shekhar Gupta.
Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov was in bullish mood ahead of their final Group A showdown with Uruguay on Monday, dismissing suggestions his men under pressure because of their status as World Cup hosts.
'There's no pro-China tilt in BRICS.' 'All these countries want to be close to China, but they are all good friends of India also.'
Two projects in Iran, which India is to execute involving major financial commitments on its part, are of particular significance for Indian steel.
At a joint media briefing with Lavrov, Jaishankar listed issues such as "factors of instability" such as terrorism and its cross-border manifestation and said it remains a "major concern".
India is one of the few countries in the region that enjoys good relations with both Israel and Saudi Arabia, and IMEC would allow it to recreate the old Spice Route to Europe. All this is in jeopardy now, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
The data gathered by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra through his RTI application, show that till June 2016, Indian Air Force aircraft were used for the prime minister's visits to 11 countries -- Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Qatar, Australia, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Fiji and Singapore.
Asserting that it will continue to engage Iran in bilateral economic activities, India on Thursday said any issue that Iran has with other parts of the world should not impede "legitimate economic interaction" of the two countries.
England fans, the majority of whom will be watching on sofas and in pubs back home, have rightly lauded Southgate but patience is beginning to run out.
"We hope that India, as well as all other states -- China, Russia, France, Britain and Japan -- will diminish their economic relations with Iran," US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said.
It is the first visit to India by a senior minister of a member nation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation after the controversial remarks triggered anguish in the Arab world.
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives to address the United Nations General Assembly.
Dulat, however, pointedly said engagement with Pakistan has always been "influenced by domestic politics".
India would not be seen to be anything but rude with the Pakistanis. In the big picture, who is the bigger adversary right now? Who is the bigger pain in the neck? And who is it that is keeping more than 3,000 km of our borders active, throwing our military posture and deployments into imbalance? asks Shekhar Gupta.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's top oil firm, has bought as much as 3 million barrels of crude oil that Russia had offered at steep discount to prevailing international rates, sources said. The purchase, made through a trader, is the first since Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine that brought international pressure for isolating Putin administration. Sources aware of the matter said IOC bought Urals crude for May delivery at a discount of $20-25 a barrel to dated Brent.
India has been eyeing deeper energy ties with Iran and has already lined up $20 billion as investment in oil and gas as well as in petrochemical and fertiliser sectors there.
The crisis is not upon India immediately, as the US sanctions give a six-month breathing space for countries to act.
The unalloyed truth about the Ukraine-Russia conflict is that it is a war that Russia cannot lose and Ukraine cannot win, observes Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
India will pay Iran $900 million in two tranches beginning next week to clear part of the past dues for crude oil it buys from the Persian Gulf nation.
'People sitting in the stands need to know what the rules are. Who is refereeing the game? We need to know. People deserve to know what are the rules of the game and the game belongs to the people.'
To the extent the nuclear race in West Asia is slowed down by the Iran nuclear deal, the world as a whole has reason to be happy, says Virendra Kapoor.
On Tuesday, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met Russian oil giant Rosneft's chief executive officer Igor Sechin and discussed raising crude imports from that country, in addition to talks about going for more acquisitions.
Sebi has asked stock exchanges and other market participants to remain watchful of funds and entities with Iranian links, as the global inter-governmental agency FATF continues to classify Iran as one of the 'high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions' with respect to money laundering and terror financing activities.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired the 22nd SCO summit in Samarkand which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday asked Iran to build "international confidence" in its nuclear programme by fully complying with the global obligations under NPT and cooperating with IAEA, shortly after Tehran slammed the UNSC for being "unjust and completely undemocratic".
Foreign ministers trying to reach an agreement on Iran's nuclear programme in Vienna are considering extending the negotiations as the Monday deadline looms large with "serious gaps" in the dialogue.
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