'Indian and Iranian sources both confirmed to me that India and Iran are moving ahead to implement a payment system on buying oil from Iran and hope to finalise it very soon,' says Aveek Sen.
India is apprehensive about the Taliban's return as it would mean loss of access to Baluch rebels and help to the restive tribals of Waziristan. This would be a setback to the Indian strategy of returning the compliments of death by a thousand cuts to Pakistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Trump described the agreement as the "worst" and "one-sided transactions" that America has ever entered into.
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 Trump administration is on the same page as India that Pakistan is not the solution, but the problem itself,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'What is being proposed today is completely draconian.' Payal Singh Mohanka on the I&B ministry's plan to amend the Cinematograph Act.
Iran and the Islamic State are "competing for the crown of militant Islam," Netanyahu said.
As the Barack Obama administration tries to impress upon India and other nations to join in the US-led sanctions regime against Iran to isolate that country for its alleged nuclear weapons programme and reduce their energy dependence on Teheran, India's Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao noted that India's imports of Iranian oil has been on the decline and predicted it may dissipate even further.
"This initiative is designed to enhance our outreach to the Iranian people, notwithstanding the lack of diplomatic ties between our two governments," Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told media persons at the launch of the website, which is both in English and Persian.
In return for Pak's gesture, the US has authorised the reinstatement of a military training and educational programme which had remained suspended for 2 yrs. Pak blamed Iran's Maj Gen Soleimani for Baloch militant attacks against its forces.
In an expected showdown, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a verbal attack against each other at a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meeting at the United Nations on Monday.In his 35-minute speech at the NPT Review Conference, Ahmadinejad slammed Washington for bullying Tehran over its nuclear programme while not pushing the 'Zionist regime' (Israel) for getting rid of its nuclear weapons.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that the attack near the Iraqi border was carried out by 'terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime'.
He also said that the Obama Administration has not expressed any objection to the recent signing of a pact by India and Iran to develop the Chabahar port, despite some concerns expressed by a few Senators.
The Chabahar message is a reality check for China, which has made deep political and strategic inroads into Iran.
Unless the Taliban goofs up in a big way, which seems highly unlikely, we are looking at a regime that will be around for quite a long while and present a level of governance that the puppets of the richest and most advanced countries failed to provide, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The White House said it has 'a large body' of evidence indicating that the Assad regime was responsible for the April 7 chemical attack in Duma.
Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite films, most of them shown at international film festivals held virtually (Berlinale and Rotterdam), hybrid (Toronto) or physical (Cannes and Venice).
The US has slapped sanctions against a number of international companies and individuals for evading sanctions against Iran and for providing support for its contentious nuclear programme.
It is easy to foretell that negotiating a comprehensive and final agreement on the Iran nuclear issue is by no means an easy task. It involves hard negotiations, but the hardest step has been taken, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who was among the first group of foreigners to visit the the top-secret Arak plant hidden behind barren mountains south of Tehran.
Or Iran may face the risk of losing its biggest client
'Modi has visited all these three countries (the UAE more than once, inexplicably) but has left out Kuwait and Oman, the two Gulf countries that are closest to India in their political, cultural and civilisational ethos,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India's imports from Iran rose to 250,200 barrels per day
'If the Iran nuke deal holds, Iran becomes a gateway to Afghanistan, and a better one than Pakistan because the route is not so mountainous. Correspondingly, I imagine Pakistan's value to the US will fall,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
Snooping is one of the oldest peccadilloes of man, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'It is only because we were facing US threats that we were able to successfully develop a nuclear programme of our own.'
Warning companies eyeing business deals with Iran, United States President Barack Obama has said that they can take such a move at their own peril as America and its allies would come down like a "ton of bricks" on those that violated sanctions against Tehran.
With Modi's international image seriously damaged -- perhaps, irrecoverably -- and Indian foreign policy finding itself in drift, we move on to the New Year in a depressing scenario, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The deal with Iran does not address any of the major issues thrown up by Tehran's ambitions, says Claude Smadja.
The road ahead will be long and winding and much resistance can be expected from the high-flying 'hawks' in our skies. But that should not deter the policymakers from planning a road map with the 'big picture' in mind, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Chabahar port, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, 'can be the first significant footfall in an Indian variant of the 'Belt and Road' initiative.'
'The change of vocabulary in the India-US conversation was significant and refreshing.' 'It matched the styles of Trump and Modi.' 'The differences were not papered over, but there was determination to resolve them in the days ahead,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Patriotism is a sentiment, a feeling of belonging to a place.' 'Nationalism is an ideology, and like all ideologies, it is absolute and restrictive in nature,' Ashis Nandy, arguably India's leading social thinker, tells Geetanjali Krishna.
'By annoying the Arabs and cozying up to Iran, Pakistan may end up losing Arab economic support, annoying the Americans and increase Shia-Sunni tensions domestically,' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) points out.
In a rare move that might end the chronic impasse between arch-enemies the United States and Iran, President Barack Obama could meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
The Al Qaeda, the Islamic State or Daesh, as it is also called, will continue to exploit the fault lines and the many contradictions in the approaches of different countries, says Hardeep Puri.
'It's the first-ever US presidential visit which is specially planned for India.' 'The standalone visit itself has achieved something already. Don't underestimate it.' Sheela Bhatt gives us an exclusive glimpse of what the Modi government hopes to achieve from Trump's visit.
The Saudi-Pakistan nuclear weapons cooperation is meant to sound alarm bells in Washington, reminding the Obama administration that its overtures to Iran would have serious negative consequences in terms of its ties with its closest allies in the region, says Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad. Exclusive to Rediff.com
Aseem Chhabra lists 10 of his favourite films that played in various sections at the 74th Cannes Film Festival.
'Who put the fear of god into Imran Khan and how it happened we do not know, but the great cricketer panicked and called Mahathir to regret that he cannot attend the KL Summit,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The most striking thing about the US strike on Syria is its futility of purpose beyond a symbolic value to impress the domestic constituency that Trump is a forceful decision-maker,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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