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Iran, India to exchange scientific delegations
Monday, May 15, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, May 15 (IranMania) - Visiting Indian Minister for Water Resources Saif Od Din Soz said Iran and India reached agreement to exchange technical and scientific delegations in the water sector and cooperate in the field in future, IRNA reported. Speaking to reporters after conferring with Iran's Minister of Energy Parviz Fattah, he said that given the recent agreements, his country will exchange expertise in this domain with Iran. "Iran has certainly managed to inform the world community of its activities and achievements in the water sector. Meanwhile, it has proved that the country's facilities in this sector are remarkable," he added. Turning to the fact that India too is advanced and a forerunner in environmental and water issues, he said that during his stay in Iran he has learned a lot, given the country's considerable progress in various domains. The Indian minister pointed to the ancient civilization of both countries and said that these commonalties are a good reason for working on new joint projects. He added that Iran's initiatives and innovations in exploiting water reservoirs accounts for its brilliant historical experience in the sector. The Indian minister visited Tehran to attend the fourth Urban Water Management Center's Government Council meeting. At the end of the meeting, some gifts were presented to the participants by Iran's Ministry of Energy.
http://tinyurl.com/r7dbc


Rice downplays India's Iran links
India says military training fear 'completely misplaced'
Thursday, April 6, 2006 Posted: 0630 GMT (1430 HKT)
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Wednesday.
(CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has downplayed concerns about India's links with Iran as she lobbies Congress to support the controversial nuclear cooperation agreement struck between India and the United States last month. India has already rejected as "completely misplaced" any suggestion of a military training link with Iran.
But some U.S. lawmakers have raised questions about India's commercial and military relations with Iran, which faces possible sanctions after the U.N. Security Council issued a statement on March 29 demanding that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program. In a Senate hearing Wednesday on Washington's civilian nuclear deal with New Delhi, Rice said an assertion that India has been training Iranian sailors is "not right." Rice said two Iranian warships had simply paid a port call on the southern Indian city of Kochi in March, and no military training was involved. This followed an exchange with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, who told Rice the Iranian naval visit was "very disturbing" and the proposed deal with India needed to have more checks and balances. India's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, who was in Washington last week for talks with U.S. lawmakers, said he told Rep. Tom Lantos, D-California, on March 30 that his concerns about the Iranian ship visits were unfounded. Saran told reporters last Friday that it was simply a courtesy visit and any suggestion of a joint training exercise was "completely misleading," according to the Press Trust of India. Rice acknowledged the Iranian port calls and said the United States had already made its position known. "The United States has made very clear to India that we have concerns about their relationship with Iran," she told the Senate hearing. Ahead of Rice's appearance, U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the port visit by Iranian ships was "a limited type of event" and "do not suggest India training or contributing to Iran's military capabilities". Indian media reports on March 7 quoted a navy press release as saying the two Iranian ships, carrying naval cadets, had arrived in Kochi for a "five-day training session." Kochi is the home of India's Southern Naval Command.

Historic agreement
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President George W. Bush signed the civilian nuclear power deal on March 2 in New Delhi. The agreement was struck even though New Delhi has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has nuclear weapons. Singh also hosted a visit to New Delhi by Iranian Vice President Isfandiar Rahim Mashaee in late March. The two agreed to strengthen cooperation, especially in the energy sector. India is proposing to take gas from Iran via a pipeline that will pass through Pakistan. Rice sought to assure Congress on Wednesday that the landmark plan to share nuclear technology with India for its civilian program would not undercut efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, The Associated Press reported. "Clearly, this agreement does not constrain India's nuclear weapons program. That was not its purpose," Rice told a House committee. "Neither, however, as some critics have suggested, does it enhance India's capability to build nuclear weapons." Rice said the agreement would enhance energy security, noting India was now the world's sixth largest consumer of energy. "Diversifying India's energy sector will help it to meet its ever increasing needs and more importantly, ease its reliance on hydrocarbons and unstable sources like Iran. This is good for the United States," she said in testimony to the House committee. In the House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats alike expressed serious reservations over the plan and criticized what they called the Bush administration's failure to explain its details to lawmakers earlier, AP reported. "It is my view that this is in trouble here," said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, who supports the plan but criticized how the administration has handled it. The administration needs Congress to change, or approve an exception to, the law that bans civilian nuclear cooperation with countries that have not submitted to full nuclear inspections, AP reported. Despite concerns, some lawmakers from both political parties indicated they would back the plan because of an overall goal of strengthening the U.S.-India relationship. "This is a very good bet for our country," AP quoted Sen. George Allen, R-Virginia, as saying. Two senior Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joseph Biden of Delaware and John Kerry of Massachusetts, signaled they were inclined to vote for the agreement, albeit reluctantly, AP reported.
http://tinyurl.com/p29ao


SEE ALSO:

India-Israel Partnership: Convergence and Constraints
http://tinyurl.com/re8xl

Israel, India, and Turkey: Triple Entente?
http://tinyurl.com/ox5sd

Terrorism in India and Israel and The New Indo-Israel defense relationship.
http://tinyurl.com/n25qe

US, India, Israel to fight terror together
http://tinyurl.com/md9l5

India and Israel join forces
http://tinyurl.com/qcjjq

Secret Israel-India defence deal on the anvil
http://tinyurl.com/mo7nq

US sanctions Venezuela over terrorism: official
Mon May 15, 1:05 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on Venezuela on Monday, banning all arms sales to one of its major oil suppliers for what it says is its lack of help in the war on terrorism, a State Department official said.

http://tinyurl.com/puub6


US bans arms sales to Venezuela
By Saul Hudson, Mon May 15
Washington banned all U.S. arms sales to Venezuela on Monday, punishing President Hugo Chavez for his ties with Cuba and Iran and for what it believes is his inaction against guerrillas from neighboring Colombia.

The sanctions escalate a crisis with the major U.S. oil supplier and come after years of antagonism between the two nations on issues ranging from trade to energy prices that have dragged ties to their worst state in decades.

Despite Venezuela's repeated assertions that it works against terrorism, and particularly militants in the Andean region, the United States designated it on Monday as a country considered uncooperative in the U.S. war on terrorism.

While the move is not as severe as adding a country to the U.S. blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, which includes Iran and Cuba, it does trigger sanctions and is likely to provoke an angry response from Chavez.

The sanctions extend the Bush administration's practice in recent years of stopping country-to-country sales involving American arms and technology to Venezuela.

Now Washington also prohibits all U.S. commercial weapons sales to Venezuela and prevents any re-sales of American arms and technology from other nations.

Maripili Hernandez, Venezuelan Vice Minister of Foreign Relations for North America and Multilateral Affairs, dismissed the U.S. move.

"From a diplomatic point of view those classifications that the United States makes are absolutely irrelevant. We don't take them into account," she said.

OIL THREAT

The top U.S. diplomat for Latin America said the Bush administration took the step with "enormous reluctance," but noted the countries' traditionally strong ties had eroded under Chavez.

That deterioration has weighed on world oil markets in recent years, adding to supply worries that have helped cause record high crude prices.

Governing policy over the largest oil reserves outside of the Middle East, Chavez has periodically threatened to stop oil exports to Venezuela's biggest market, the United States, but the OPEC member has remained a reliable supplier.

Larry Birns of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs think tank in Washington said the move was a powerful symbol of U.S. disdain for Chavez but would have little practical impact on a country that has turned increasingly to suppliers such as Russia.

"This is a political act. The State Department has been looking to up the ante without provoking a full-blown meltdown," he said. "It is an escalation of U.S. hostility toward Venezuela."

State Department spokesman Eric Watnik explained Monday's decision citing Chavez's relations with the two U.S. foes, Iran and Cuba, and accusing him of allowing leftist guerrillas from neighboring Colombia to operate from Venezuela.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican, who chairs the House Permanent Select Committee on Republican Intelligence, said in a statement: "The hostility shown by the Venezuelan leadership toward the United States along with its efforts to sow totalitarianism in the hemisphere, at the expense of the Venezuelan people, should be alarming to everyone."
http://tinyurl.com/m5xxb