In a major diplomatic breakthrough, the foreign ministers of United States and Iran will hold talks on Tehran's controversial nuclear drive at a landmark meeting on Thursday -- the first between the two states in more than 30 years.
A Chinese vessel was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Oman on Friday. The cargo ship belonging to a Nanjing company was hijacked at about 9:30 am local time (1030 IST) in the Sea of Oman near the Iranian port Chabahar, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The United States has condemned the death sentence handed to American-Iranian ex-Marine Amir Mirzai Hekmati in Iran and asked Tehran to release him immediately.
Iran is India's largest importer of tea in value terms while in terms of volume, it is the second largest after Russia
Indian Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India has stopped importing oil from Iran after the United States refused to extend exemption from sanctions earlier this month.
Iran handed Cambodia a record-breaking 14-0 thrashing on an historic day in Tehran as goals flowed in World Cup qualifiers across Asia with Japan, South Korea and Australia securing comfortable wins on Thursday.
In a move that may thaw the 34-year-old icy relationship between the United States and Iran, US President Barack Obama on Friday called his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and "exchanged pleasantries" in a 15-minute conversation.
Both statesmen possess a cultivated pugnacious style which they keep in reserve and can at will bring into play, and despite the mutual distrust in Russian-American relations, they are proponents of detente, quintessentially, who take their mission deadly seriously, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
With satisfactory progress of monsoon rainfalls prompting farmers to bring in additional area under basmati sowing, prices are set to fall lower going forward.
Information released by Israel provided new and compelling details about Iran's efforts to develop missile-deliverable nuclear weapons, says WH.
It cannot, however, use the money to invest in India or buy shares or companies.
Shipping Corporation of India's oil tanker, MT Desh Shanti, which was detained in Iran for 26 days, arrived at Visakhapatnam port in the early hours on Wednesday, sources said.
The passengers have been quarantined at the Indian Army Wellness Centre at Jaisalmer.
The ballistic missile launch was the first by Iran since Trump became President.
The Taliban's main challenge comes on the financial and economic front and there Pakistan doesn't have the capacity to be of any meaningful help, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In a temporary reprieve, India will pay for Iranian crude oil in euros through a German bank based in Hamburg, while a permanent solution to the payment issue will be explored at a meeting in Teheran next week.
Western sanctions aimed at crippling Iranian finances by drying up buyers for its crude oil, had last year banned insurance cover to ships carrying Iranian oil.
President Trump, in a move that could have implications on India's energy security, on Monday decided not to grant sanctions exemptions to any oil customers of Iran, further squeezing Tehran's top export commodity.
Hassan Rouhani to offer Friday prayers in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid.
Sandhu, a 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently posted as high commissioner of India in Sri Lanka.
Oil prices jumped nearly $3 a barrel and gold and safe-haven bonds rallied on Friday after the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike by the US in Baghdad.
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Thursday berated the UN Security Council as a "flagrant form of dictatorship" while terming the US and its Western allies as "bullies" trying to monopolise nuclear fuel production, as he asserted Tehran's right to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes.
Rouhani, who is on his maiden visit, will meet President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday and will discuss cooperation on regional and international issues of mutual concern.
Global football body FIFA has been urged by its own human rights advisory panel to give Iran a deadline for allowing women to watch football matches.
More than three months after RBI scrapped a long-standing payment mechanism used to pay for Iranian crude imports, India has resumed payments to the nation's second largest oil supplier using an alternative system.
'Welcome to America', '#Americaisbeautiful'. These were just some of the chants heard at American airports as families reunited with their loved ones after a federal court swept aside the ban imposed by President Donald Trump, which restricted the access of people from seven nations -- namely Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Somalia.
Bajrang Punia's perennial leg-defence weakness came to haunt him at the big stage as he lost the men's freestyle 65kg semi-final to three-time world champion Haji Aliev at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
BWith a distracted president brooding in the White House, Pompeo seems to think his day has come. He seems to be pushing a personal agenda before a target audience in America, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The direction comes hours after Iran fired over a dozen ballistic missiles targeting at least two American bases in response to the killing of its General Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike.
The dates for the visit will be decided by the two sides after diplomatic consultations. This was the first meeting between the two leaders after a long time and they reviewed bilateral relations, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters while briefing them about the meeting.
'As far as acquisition of Russian equipment is concerned, with about 70% of Indian military equipment being of Russian origin, a sudden decision to abandon imports from Russia is not feasible,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Iran on Thursday ordered a release of an Indian tanker seized by it in Persian Gulf while carrying crude from Basrah in Iraq and taken to its Bandar Abbas Port 24 days ago.
The United States on Thursday put Iran "on notice" for test-firing a ballistic missile and warned of consequences for its "malign actions", signalling a more hardline stance against Tehran that could set the stage for renewed confrontation between the two nations.
The world's attention is on the new Taliban and the imminent announcement of an inclusive government in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
"It was a very proud moment for me as well as the entire Air India crew when we heard from Pakistan ATC praising our special flight operations to Europe," one of the senior captains of the special flight said.
The decision to speak to the political convention in pre-recorded remarks from Jerusalem breaks with the longstanding precedent of sitting secretaries of state avoiding partisan politics and appears to violate guidance on political activities that Pompeo himself emphasised in a cable to diplomats just last month.
Mission completed, external affairs minister S Jaishankar tweeted.
The US has told India and other countries to cut oil imports from Iran to 'zero' by November 4 or face sanctions.
Internal strife and tribalism is endemic to Afghanistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
