Indonesia seizes Iranian flagged tanker

Indonesian coast guard said on Tuesday it seized an Iranian-flagged supertanker suspected of involvement in the illegal transshipment of crude oil, and vowed to toughen maritime patrols.

The MT Arman 114 was carrying 272,569 tons of light crude oil, valued at US$304 million, when it was seized last week, the Indonesian authorities said.

The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) was suspected of transferring oil to another vessel without a permit on Friday, the Southeast Asian nation's maritime security agency said.

The vessel was captured after being spotted in Indonesia's North Natuna Sea, carrying out a ship-to-ship oil transfer with the Cameroon-flagged MT S Tinos, the agency's chief, Aan Kurnia, said.

"MT Arman was spoofing their automatic identification system (AIS) to show its position was in the Red Sea but in reality it was here," Aan told reporters.

"So it seems like they already had a malicious intent," Aan said, adding that the vessel also dumped oil into the ocean, in violation of Indonesia's environmental law.

The vessels' operators could not be immediately reached for comment.

Along with the Arman, authorities detained its Egyptian captain, 28 crew and 3 passengers, who were the family of a security officer on board, the agency said.

After the two supertankers attempted to escape, authorities focused their pursuit on Arman, assisted by Malaysian authorities as the vessel sailed into their waters, Aan said.

The Tinos was supposed to have been scrapped in 2018, he added. It was built in 1999 while the Arman was built in 1997, according to shipping database Equasis.

The "shadow" fleet of tankers carrying oil from sanctioned Iran, Russia and Venezuela has been transferring cargoes in the Singapore Strait to avoid detection, a Reuters analysis showed this year.

The risk of oil spills and accidents is growing as hundreds of extra ships, some without insurance cover, have joined the opaque parallel trade over the past few years.

Aan vowed that Indonesia's coast guard, assisted by other authorities, would strengthen patrols in its waters. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago, with about 17,000 islands.

"We have to be firm, tough," he said. "There has to be a deterrent effect so it will not happen again."

In 2021, Indonesia seized Iranian- and Panamanian-flagged vessels over similar accusations. The captains of the two vessels received two-year probation from an Indonesian court.

 

United States plans naval logistics hub in India

The United States seeks to transform India into a center for resupplying and maintenance of naval vessels in the South Asia region, where it has been stretched thin with such capabilities.

US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to comprehensive defense and economic partnerships when Modi visited the White House in late June for a summit with Biden.

“The US-India Major Defense Partnership has emerged as a pillar of global peace and security,” the joint statement from the summit reads.

The US will provide India with support to develop infrastructure that will be used to resupply, repair and maintain ships and aircraft.

“We’ll have much more to follow in the near future, but the aim here is to make India a logistics hub for the United States and other partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, to reporters in late June.

As part of this effort, the US Navy will sign ship repair agreements with Indian shipyards.

The navy has concluded a Master Ship Repair Agreement with the Larsen & Toubro shipyard near the Indian city of Chennai, according to the White House. The navy is close to finalizing separate deals with two other shipbuilders, based in Mumbai and Goa.

The US military looks to build readiness for quickly handling resupply activities and repairs in the Indo-Pacific region. If the navy has access to more hubs in the region, then vessels and aircraft will waste less time pausing operations for both. The time savings can be allocated to joint exercises with other countries.

“There’s a big gap between the bases the United States sustains in the bilateral hub agreements they have in the Middle East and then the Western Pacific,” said Jeffrey Payne, assistant professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. “So, India fulfills this.”

At present, Japan and Singapore serve as key naval hubs for the US in Asia.

Harry Harris, former commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, hailed the initiative.

“Currently, we operate from Diego Garcia and Western Australia in the Indian Ocean,” he told Nikkei via email. “Securing a maintenance, repair, and logistics hub on the Subcontinent is significant as this would give us much-needed flexibility in the vast Indian Ocean region.”

The Chinese navy has about 355 ships and submarines, making it the world’s largest numerically, according to the 2021 edition of the Pentagon’s annual report on China. If American vessels cannot spend more time at sea, then the US will risk falling behind China in terms of naval capabilities, weakening deterrence.

Because the Indo-Pacific is defined by large stretches of water, many believe that conducting supply activities in the region during emergencies will prove more difficult than similar activities in Europe, with its land routes.

“Are we ready today? Yes, we are,” Rear Adm. Mark Melson, commander of the US Navy’s logistics group stationed in Singapore, told Nikkei in an interview in early June. “But I will never claim to be ready enough.”

“We are certainly trying to improve the amount of access into a number of places where we can conduct expeditionary resupply, expeditionary refuel [and] if required, expeditionary rearm,” Melson said.

The Biden administration plans to deepen the partnership with India beyond the Indian Ocean in the maritime space. Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, attended an event hosted by a US think tank at the end of June and touched on strengthening the collaboration with India in the South China Sea.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met with Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo in New Delhi at the end of June. The two ministers released a joint statement that backed a 2016 arbitration ruling at The Hague rejecting Chinese claims to nearly all of the South China Sea.

This marked the first time that India expressed support for the Hague ruling, which is based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, according to Gregory Poling, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. It put India in line with Japan and major Western countries on the issue.

India, as a representative of the so-called Global South emerging and developing countries, is gaining a stronger role and voice in the international community.

On the security front, India appears to have shifted focus on relations to the West. Modi’s visit to Washington in June is evidence of this. India on Tuesday hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, which was held in a virtual format out of consideration for the US

But the basic theme of India’s diplomacy remains “strategic autonomy,” which entails working with other countries according to its own interests.

In recent years, the US apparently threatened to impose sanctions on India when it sought to acquire air defense systems from Russia. In 1971, the US sent an aircraft carrier to threaten India during the third Indo-Pakistani War. Whether today’s partnership between the US and India will completely dispel the latent distrust of Washington remains to be seen.

 

United States on top in violating women rights, says Iranian Vice President

Ensiyeh Khazali, the vice president of Iran for women and family affairs, has said that the United States at the top of the list of countries violating the rights of women. She said the US and other Western countries are using democracy as a disguise to cover up their problems. 

“With the mask of democracy, defense of human rights, and defense of freedom, the US has been able to cover up many of its problems and introduce itself as a claimant for the defense of human rights in the international community,” Khazali said, according to IRIB News. 

She added, “United States is the main accused and we must show the real face of United States.”

Khazali also said that America does not have a good record domestically on many issues related to women's rights. It allows double oppression of women in many issues related to women's affairs both with the rules it implements internally and with the procedures and functions it has,” Khazali stated. 

The vice president also mentioned some cases of human rights violations in the United States saying, “Women in prison, people who are killed by the police in this country, especially black women, as well as people who are the targets of rape and abuse in the work and office environments and at home, are among these cases, something that if revealed and expressed well, United States ranks first in many crimes and violations of women's rights.”

She continued, “By covering up its crimes, United States becomes a claimant and accuses countries like Iran where women have made significant progress. It oppresses women with a political and illegal move.”

She also referred to the recent developments in France, underlining that the scenes that were seen in France were full of violence and harsh encounters, which cannot be justified under any circumstances.

According to Khazali, the media war they have launched against Iran is absent in these cases and do not reflect many events in France.

She also pointed to the September 2022 unrest in Iran which broke out in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini, saying, “Western countries started disseminating propaganda during last year's riots in Iran. We need to know the real face of these countries so that everyone can see how the claimant countries would react if one of the things that happened in France happened in Iran.” 

 

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait claim exclusive ownership of Al Durra gas field

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have exclusive shared ownership of an offshore gas field Al Durra field, also known as Arash field, said Kuwaiti oil minister after Iran claimed it has 40% rights in the field.

The exchange is taking place just as the two largest regional players in the Middle East began to warm up to each other.

In response to Iran statements that it owns a share of the field, Kuwait’s oil minister said this weekend that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had exclusive rights to Al Durra field, which Iran calls Arash field.

"Until this moment, this is an exclusive right of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the Durra field, and whoever has a claim must start demarcating the borders. And if it has a right, it will take it according to the rules of international law," Saad Al Barak told Saudi media, as quoted by Reuters.

The statement follows an earlier one made by the Saudi Foreign Ministry, in which Riyadh also asserted the dual ownership of the field and called on Tehran to first demarcate its own maritime borders. Kuwait echoed the call.

“Iran must first enter into the demarcation of international borders, and after that, whoever has a right will get it according to the rules of international law,” Al Barak told Saudi media last week.

The declarations follow a meeting of the Saudi and Iranian energy ministers last week. At the meeting, Abdulaziz bin Salman and Javad Owji discussed investments in oil and gas, potential joint ventures, oil and gas trade, and the development of joint fields. 

Iran and Saudi Arabia share more than 28 oil and gas fields which have never been exploited due to disagreements in terms of the amount of exploitation and level of access.

The two share Farzad A and B and Arash gas fields, with the Arash field also extending to Kuwait.

The two regional rivals agreed in March to restore diplomatic relations and re-open embassies and missions in an agreement brokered by China after talks in Beijing.

 

Iran claims share in Arash gas field

Iranian lawmaker Hadi Beiginejad has reacted to recent remarks by Kuwaiti and Saudi officials that Iran has no rights in the Arash gas field, saying that Iran has a 40% share in the field. 

“Iran's 40% share in the Arash joint field cannot be ignored and this right of Iran cannot be hidden,” Beiginejad told Fars News. 

He was responding to recent statements by Kuwaiti and Saudi officials saying that Iran has no share in the field and it should start talks over demarcating the border between Iran and Kuwait. 

The lawmaker rejected this allegation, underlining that the Arash joint gas field is located next to Esfandiar, Forozan and Soroush fields on a border line and Iran has a share in all these fields.

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) has recently quoted a Saudi official as saying that the natural resources of the Arash field, which is known as Al Durra in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, solely belong to the two Arab countries and that Iran should accept the demarcation of the borderline without any claims to the disputed field. 

Beiginejad called on the Saudis to respect the rights of their neighbors. “Instead of these comments, the Saudi authorities should observe the principle of good neighborliness in their relations with their neighbors and respect the rights of their neighbors,” he suggested. 

He added, “If we haven't started investing in the Arash field yet, it is because this field has a quarter of a phase of the South Pars oil and gas field and it is expected that 20 thousand barrels of oil and 7 million cubic meters of gas to be extracted from the Arash field every day.”

He asked the Supreme National Security Council and the Presidential Legal Office to follow up on the Arash field issue from a legal point of view and not to allow this issue to turn into a bigger dispute between the two countries, and to pursue the rights of the Iranian nation from a legal point of view.

Earlier, Iranian MP Mostafa Nakhaei had said the Islamic Republic will not back down from its rights in the Arash gas field, underlining that Iran doubts that Saudi Arabia has a share in the field.

Nakhaei, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s Energy Committee, has criticized the Iranian authorities for not taking measures to exploit the gas field.

“We have many joint fields with neighboring countries, and in all development programs, attention and focus on joint fields have been emphasized. Our lack of planning and focus on the joint Arash gas field in all past years have caused competing countries to take action to develop it, but unfortunately, we have not done anything special about it,” he told parliamentary news agency ICANA.

He added, “About 60 years have passed since the discovery of this common field and there are very valuable gas resources, to some extent gas condensates and a little oil in it.”

Nakhaei pointed out, “In the past years, we should have resolved the disputes with competing countries in the joint Arash gas field and planned for its development, but unfortunately, we have not taken any action for this.”

“Despite all the mentioned conditions, it is clear that Iran will not neglect its interests in the Arash field in any way, and no official of the Islamic Republic of Iran has the right to turn a blind eye on or neglect the country's interests in this gas field and its development,” he said.

He also called for the diplomatic resolution of the disputes over the Arash gas field.

 

SCO and transformation of world order

Iran's inclusion in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a significant development, considering the UN Security Council sanctions it still faces. The SCO members had previously agreed that any state wishing to join should not have any UN Security Council sanctions imposed on it. This issue holds importance when analyzing the transformation in the world order.

Iran's membership in the SCO is not a result of the removal of Security Council sanctions through the JCPOA. Iran continues to be sanctioned by the Security Council, and a list of Iranian individuals and entities under these sanctions can be found on the UN website.

It is worth noting that the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization no longer attribute the same importance to the UN Security Council in the current circumstances. This suggests that even if the West triggers the snapback mechanism and reinstates previous Security Council resolutions against Iran, it is unlikely to affect Iran's membership in the SCO.

The UN Security Council has traditionally been viewed as a fundamental pillar of the post-Cold War world order. However, Iran's inclusion in the SCO signifies a significant blow to its authority, emphasizing the operational phase of the transformation in the world order.

The US victory in the Cold War, is facing a crisis of attractiveness and effectiveness. The number of liberal democracies in the world has decreased, and only a small percentage of the global population lives in such countries.

United States, as the leader of the liberal order, is experiencing economic and social crises rooted in the liberal ideology. The effectiveness of the US hard and soft power in safeguarding the liberal order has diminished, and it has been repeatedly defeated by its rivals.

The RAND Corporation has proposed the concept of Power to Coerce as an alternative to the US traditional power sources. This concept includes financial sanctions, cyber operations, and support for internal opposition. Financial sanctions have been a crucial tool in America's foreign policy toolbox, but their effectiveness is diminishing due to overuse.

Ukraine crisis and unprecedented sanctions against Russia have provided an opportunity to neutralize the US financial sanctions through the development of non-dollar payment systems and reserves.

There is a consensus about the emergence of a new multipolar order. However, with the collapse of communism and liberalism, there will no longer be an order based on a hegemonic ideology claiming civilization.

Instead, international cooperation and interactions will be based on mutual interests, with power units and weaker countries operating within their spheres of influence.

China and Russia are economic and military power units but lack a civilizational ideology to lead the creation of a new order.

In this context, Islam can emerge as the only leading ideology for creating a new civilization.

In light of the current challenges faced by the liberal order and the emergence of a new multipolar order, it is crucial for Islamic countries to assert their interests and values.Islamic countries should adopt a two-pronged strategy in the current period.

The first prong should focus on undermining the remaining foundations of the US leadership in order to end the liberal order. The second prong should focus on shaping a new internal order based on shared Islamic values.

It is proposed that Muslim countries establish a charter based on their shared Islamic values. This "Muslim Nations Charter" with its special institutions would serve as an alternative to the current "United Nations Charter," which is rooted in liberal values and has institutions dedicated to its defense.

 

Making Indian Ocean safer

Heidar Ali Balouji, Iranian representative at the UN warned about the dangers posed by the military presence of extra-regional countries in the Indian Ocean and proposed the regional security can be advantageous to the world. He made these comments at the recently held meeting of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Indian Ocean held in New York.

He highlighted that the region faces a number of serious security challenges, ranging from the military presence of extra-regional powers to newly emerging issues like piracy, drug trafficking, and environmental degradation.

Follows is the text of the statement read by Balouji:

I would like to begin by commending you for convening this meeting. I extend our thanks to the secretariat for its continuous support.

The Indian Ocean has served as a critical trade route for centuries, currently accounting for one-third of the world's bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of the world's oil shipments.

It is home to approximately 35% of the global population.

Given the significance of trade and the vastness of its many sub-regions, the Indian Ocean holds immense importance in terms of military and strategic engagement.

It acts as a vital trading hub, connecting the Middle East to Southeast and East Asia, as well as Europe and the Americas.

However, the region faces a range of serious security challenges, from traditional threats such as the military presence of extra-regional powers to emerging concerns like piracy, drug trafficking, and environmental degradation. These issues pose a significant threat to the region's growth.

Consequently, fostering indigenously driven regional security becomes a public good that benefits not only the region but also the entire world, while simultaneously preventing major powers from vying for control over the region's resources and sea lanes.

We must bear in mind the significance of the Declaration on the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace, adopted on December 16, 1971.

This declaration calls upon all states to consider and respect the Indian Ocean region as a zone of peace, free from great power rivalry.

It also envisions the region to be free of nuclear weapons, an essential component for sustainable security in the area.

In light of the worrisome exponential increase in military tensions and expenditure, it remains crucial to allocate available resources to non-military alliances, reducing tensions that contradict the goals outlined in the Declaration.

In this context, military powers bear a substantial responsibility to refrain from any activity that undermines this noble goal. Extra-regional powers must eliminate their military presence in the Indian Ocean region.

It is high time for the world to recognize the capabilities of regional countries in addressing issues independently, without relying on external powers.

Lastly, the strengthening of Iran's friendly relationships with regional countries and its recent full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization serve as ample proof and examples that regional countries can determine their destiny and shape their history.