Iran: Deylaman Destroyer a great addition to Caspian Sea fleet

Pointing to Iran’s warm relations with all Caspian Sea littoral states, General Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of joint staff of Iran’s Armed Forces has said that the Deylaman destroyer sends a message of peace and friendship to all neighbors of the Islamic Republic. 

On the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of the Deylaman destroyer, the senior Iranian commander called the unveiling great for all the armed forces staff and Iranian people since the destroyer has joined Iran’s Caspian Sea fleet.

The destroyer is part of an Iranian class of similar ships called the Mowj class which weigh around 1,500 tons and are based on the Jamaran destroyer which was launched in 2010.

The new destroyer joins ships such as the Dena, Sahand, and Damavand, along with the Jamaran. 

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Deylaman destroyer in Bandar Anzali, Bagheri described the vessel as a great addition to Iran's Caspian Sea fleet. 

Chief Commander of the Army Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, and a number of top military officials were also present at the ceremony. 

He said the Iranian Navy plays a leading role in increasing the country's sustainable deterrent power in the face of the enemies. 

The top commander praised Iranian young scientists for their role in manufacturing the homegrown destroyer, which was built under imposed sanctions using world-class technology and the participation of Iranian industries, knowledge-based companies, and academic centers. 

He further hailed the young scientists, who turned the we can mindset into action.

General Bagheri also stressed that Iran enjoys warm relations with all Caspian Sea littoral states and that the destroyer sends a message of peace and friendship to all neighbors of the Islamic Republic. 

He also added to the importance of security of sea transportation and readiness for any unexpected incident.

“It is necessary for the armed forces to be fully prepared,” said General Bagheri, highlighting the necessity of manufacturing the Deylaman destroyer, which was deployed in the Caspian Sea to carry out its missions well.

Speaking on the occasion of November 28, the National Day of Navy in the Iranian calendar, Iran's Navy Chief, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, said on Friday that Deylaman is a powerful vessel that can act very well in the fields of detection, interception, and rescue. 

He also announced that two military drills will take place in the Indian Ocean; one includes a rescue exercise with Oman, to which other countries are invited, and the other would involve a sustainable security exercise with more countries in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean.

‘Progressive and deterrent powers’

Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy, likened the Iranian Navy and the IRGC to intertwined fists that have turned into an advancing and deterrent power in various aspects.

On the commemoration of Iran’s Navy Day, Rear Admiral Tangsiri wrote a message to Iran’s Navy Chief, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, saying November 28 is reminiscent of the braveries of Iranian Navy soldiers, who protect and guard the borders of Islamic Iran. 

“They have become a source of honor for the Islamic Revolution,” the IRGC Navy chief said.

He said, "Undoubtedly, Iran’s maritime policy will pave the way for providing tranquility and security for the Iranian people.”

The commander also said that we would not stop a second in treading the path of progress.  

He also paid tribute to the martyrs of Operation Morvarid, offering congratulations on Iran's Navy Day to the Navy chief, staff and their families.

Iran, Russia and India to promote freight transit through INSTC

The founding member states of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), namely Iran, Russia, and India, gathered for the third time in Tehran on Tuesday, to discuss solutions for promoting freight transit through the newly developed international corridor.

The event, dubbed “Iran Rah” was attended by senior officials from the three countries including Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash, Head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Ali-Akbar Safaei, Deputy National Security Advisor of India Vikram Misri, and Senior Aide to the president of the Russian Federation Igor Yevgenyevich Levitin.

Speaking at the meeting, Bazrpash underlined some of the Islamic Republic’s major principles regarding the promotion of INSTC including multilateralism, partnership, transit neighborhood, networking, facilitation of trade, and intelligent and technological development of transit, and called for maximum collaboration for the development of exchanges through the INSTC.

Further in the meeting, PMO Head Ali-Akbar Safaei mentioned some of the advantages of transit through Iran for the countries in the regions and said, “Iran's joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union will provide unique opportunities to the country’s trade partners, and the Islamic Republic is determined to remove all its tariff and non-tariff barriers in the shortest possible time.”

The main rationale for these trilateral meetings is to promote freight transit between India and Russia and other Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea countries, Safaei said.

Elsewhere in the gathering, Misri emphasized India’s determination to cooperate with Iran and Russia for completing the INSTC saying, “India has been a participant in various initiatives and projects regarding the north-south corridor and has always been committed to providing its resources in the best way to the implementers so that this corridor is developed in the best way possible.”

Lavitin for his part called the INSTC a humanitarian corridor and asked the countries of the region to join this corridor to achieve its goals.

He underlined the definition of a single policy for trade through this corridor as the most important requirement for the development of trade in this initiative and added, “The main issue discussed in this meeting is defining the same framework and reaching a common understanding for all the business operators that are willing to use this route.”

Established in 2000 by Iran, Russia, and India, this 7,200-km-long INSTC works as a multi-modal network of ship, rail, and road routes for moving freight between India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia, and Europe.

Geographically, Iran's territory, particularly the Chabahar port, is very strategic for the activation of the INSTC in linking India to Russia.

The INSTC is also an important transport agenda that is expected to considerably boost the transit and trade of Iran and Russia with the countries of the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf.

 

Iran adds 15 ships to its merchant fleet

Iran has added 15 ships to its trade maritime fleet in the Caspian Sea amid growing trade ties with Russia and other countries located to the north of Iran.

According to Mehr News Agency, the head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) has said that expanding Iran’s northern fleet of commercial vessels has become a priority for the country’s Transport and Urban Development Ministry, of which the PMO is a subsidiary.

“Given that the volume of trade with neighboring countries to the north is growing, the first priority for the ministry is to expand the fleet and to increase the capacity in the Caspian Sea,” Ali-Akbar Safaei said on Saturday.

Safaei said Iran’s Caspian Sea merchant fleet will further expand in the near future with the arrival of new ships from the Volga River.

The announcement comes amid growing shipping activity in the Caspian Sea as Russia and other countries have ramped up their exports and imports via Iran and its southern ports.

Media reports and statements by Iranian authorities show there has been a major surge in trade via the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a route that connects the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean to countries to the north of Iran via the Iranian road and rail transportation network.

Iran has created new infrastructure, including modern port operation systems, in its northern ports to both facilitate cargo transit via the INSTC and to increase its own exports to Russia and other countries.

Last month, Iran and Russia signed a contract to build a key railway along the Caspian Sea that would significantly boost trade via INSTC’s western branch.

 

 

Iran and Russia to cooperate in transit trade

Iran and Russia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on transit cooperation. The MoU on tripartite cooperation between the Iran Transportation Development Fund, the International Coordinating Council on Trans-Eurasian Transportation (CCTT), and the Economic Development Center of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was signed in Moscow.

The MoU was inked in the presence of Iran’s Ambassador in Russia Kazem Jalali, Russian Deputy Transport Minister Dmitry Zverev, Head of Iran Transport Development Fund Davoud Danesh-Jafari, Director-General of the Business Center for Economic Development Center of the CIS (BC CIS) Vadim Ganin, and Secretary-General of International Coordination Council on Trans-Eurasian Transportation (CCTT) Gennady Bessonov.

Based on this MoU, the signatories agree to cooperate with each other to increase trade, transit and storage of goods along international corridors, especially the North-South corridor.

The signatories of this memorandum also emphasized the exchange of information, carrying out joint projects, and exchange of specialized delegations to achieve these goals.

Earlier this month, during a meeting between Iranian Transport and Urban Development Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash and a visiting Russian delegation headed by Igor Yevgenyevich Levitin, a senior aide to the president of the Russian Federation, the two sides emphasized the necessity to boost the transit of commodities through the Caspian Sea.

During the meeting, held at the Iranian Transport and Urban Development Ministry in Tehran on Sunday evening, the two countries emphasized the development of cooperation in the air, sea, rail, and road sectors and multimodal transportation.

In the meeting, the Iranian minister considered the development of transportation cooperation between the two countries to be beneficial for both sides and said while the maritime trade between the ports of the two countries has a very long history, the use of the capacity of the active ports of the two countries in the Caspian Sea can be considered for new cooperation.

The senior aide to the president of the Russian Federation, for his part, summarized the expert meetings and the visit of the Russian delegation to the Rasht-Astara railway route and called for the development of transportation cooperation in all areas.

Iran and Russia reached an agreement last year for reviving the idle section of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) in Iran for expanding transit ties.

The first Russian freight train arrived at Iran’s Sarakhs railway station in Khorasan-Razavi province on the border with Turkmenistan last July to officially launch the eastern section of the INSTC.

The Russian train was allowed into the Iranian border in a ceremony attended by First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber along with transport, oil, industry, and agriculture ministers as well as the vice president for science and technology.

The second Russian transit cargo for India entered Iran also from the northeastern Sarakhs border in October last year.

Iran and Russia are also cooperating in the maritime sector to use the Caspian Sea to shorten the transit route from Russia to India.

 

India selling US dollar for UAE dirham

Reportedly Indian companies are switching from the US dollar to Asian currencies to pay for Russian coal imports. Steelmakers and cement manufacturers in India have been using the UAE dirham, Hong Kong dollar, Chinese yuan, and euro to pay for Russian coal in recent weeks.

Last month, Russia became India’s third-largest coal supplier after the South Asian giant dumped the greenback to secure deals, with imports surging to a record 2.06 million tons.

In June, Indian buyers paid for at least 742,000 tons of Russian coal using currencies other than the US dollar, equaling 44 percent of the 1.7 million tons of Russian imports that month.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India also recently approved payments for commodities in the Indian rupee, a move that could further boost bilateral trade with Russia.

Recent reports revealed that Moscow was calculating the value of oil exports to India in US dollars while requesting payment in dirhams, asking that payments be made to Russia’s Gazprombank via Mashreq Bank, its correspondent bank in Dubai.

India has increased purchases of Russian oil and coal since the start of the war in Ukraine, helping Moscow cushion the effect of western sanctions and allowing New Delhi to secure raw materials at a discount.

In early July, the Russian logistics company, RZD Logistics, announced the completion of the first transportation of goods via container trains from Russia to India through the eastern branch of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

The INSTC, which links the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Iran, is a 7,200 kilometer-long, major international shipping route for Indo-Russian trade.

In the face of aggressive western sanctions, Russia has bolstered economic cooperation with several friendly nations. Iran and Turkey are currently working on implementing Russia’s Mir payment system into their economies.

Turkey also recently agreed to make partial payments for Russian gas in rubles, while European companies have reportedly been inquiring with Ankara about acting as a middle man to supply Russia with metals, as a way to overcome sanctions.

 

Kazakhstan from stability to turmoil

Dozens of people have died and thousands have been detained in Kazakhstan over the past week during the worst violence seen in the Central Asian nation since it became independent in the early 1990s. 

Security forces appeared to have reclaimed the streets of the country's main city a day after Russian paratroopers arrived to help quash the uprising.

Kazakhstan, located between Russia and China and also sharing borders with three other ex-Soviet republics, is the largest economy in Central Asia, with rich hydrocarbon and metal deposits. It has attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign investment since becoming independent in 1991.

Strategically, it links the large and fast-growing markets of China and South Asia with those of Russia and Europe by road, rail, and a port on the Caspian Sea. It has described itself as the buckle in China's huge 'Belt and Road' trade project.

Kazakhstan is the top global producer of uranium and the recent unrest prompted an 8% jump in the price of the metal that fuels nuclear power plants. It is the world's ninth biggest oil exporter, producing some 85.7 million tons in 2021, and its 10th largest producer of coal.

It is also the world's second largest miner of bitcoin after the United States.

The uprising began as protests in oil-rich western regions against the removal of state price caps on New Year's Day for butane and propane, which are often referred to as 'road fuels for the poor' due to their low cost.

The reform, aimed at easing oil shortages, quickly backfired as prices more than doubled. The protests spread, tapping into a wider sense of discontent over endemic state corruption, income inequality and economic hardships that have all been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the richest of the Central Asian republics in per capita income, half of the population in Kazakhstan - the world's ninth largest country by territory - live in rural, often isolated communities with poor access to public services.

While the country's vast natural resources have made a small percentage of elites incredibly wealthy, many ordinary Kazakhs feel left behind. About a million people out of a total population of 19 million are estimated to live below the poverty line.

Annual inflation is running at close to 9%, the highest in more than five years, prompting the central bank to hike interest rates to 9.75%.

Career diplomat Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 68, was elected president in 2019 on promises to continue the broadly pro-business policies of his long-serving predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbayev. But Nazarbayev, a former Soviet Politburo member who led Kazakhstan for nearly three decades, was widely seen as the real power behind the throne.

Tokayev has used the protests - which have sometimes targeted symbols of the Nazarbayev era including statues - to fire the 81-year-old former president from his post as chief of the powerful Security Council.

Nazarbayev has made no public comments or appearances since the protests erupted and it remains unclear to what extent the uprising will weaken the considerable influence he and his family have continued to wield in politics and business.

Tokayev also sacked Nazarbayev's nephew, Samat Abish, as second-in-command of the security police. Nazarbayev's eldest daughter Dariga, a former speaker of the Senate and still a lawmaker, has been spoken of in the past as a possible future president.

Kazakhstan’s per capita gross domestic product in 2020 was US$9,122, World Bank data show, slightly above that of Turkey and Mexico but below its annual peak of nearly US$14,000 in 2013.

Tokayev's government introduced a stimulus package worth 6% of national output to help smaller and medium-sized businesses weather the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Bank has forecast economic growth of 3.5% in 2021, rising to 3.7% this year and 4.8% in 2023. It has urged Kazakhstan to boost competition and limit the role of large state-owned enterprises in the economy, tackle social inequality and create a more level economic playing field.

Western countries and rights groups have long criticized Kazakhstan for its authoritarian political system, its intolerance of dissent, curbs on media freedoms and lack of free and fair elections, though it has also been viewed as less repressive and volatile than its ex-Soviet neighbours.

Amnesty International said this week's protests were a result of the authorities' "widespread repression of basic human rights" and it called for the release of all those arbitrarily detained and for investigations of past state abuses.

"For years, the government has relentlessly persecuted peaceful dissent, leaving the Kazakhstani people in a state of agitation and despair," said Marie Struthers, Amnesty's Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.