NEW DELHI/TEHRAN, April 27: Senior officials of India and Iran discussed plans for closer defence cooperation between the two nations, in view of the delicate situation in West Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
This was discussed by Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani during a meeting with Indian Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane in Kazakhstan, a news report said.
Iran and India, located in strategic regions, have great capacities to establish peace and security in West Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the Iranian Defence Minister said during the meeting, held on the sidelines of a conference of defence ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in Kazakhstan.
The Iranian defence minister also called for close cooperation between Tehran and New Delhi in the fight against the Daesh (ISIS) terrorist group and in preventing it from regaining power in the region.
General Ashtiani highlighted the impact that military and defence cooperation between Iran and India will have on the establishment of regional stability and security, and voiced Tehran’s readiness to promote defence cooperation with New Delhi.
On his part, the Indian defence secretary “expressed sympathy with Iran over the martyrdom of Iranian military advisers in an Israeli airstrike in Syria, stressing the need to ensure regional security and calm”, Tasnim news agency reported.
He also emphasized the necessity for stronger military cooperation with Iran in the naval sector by attending joint naval war games, conducting defence and educational research, and exchanging military students.
In February, the Iranian Navy deployed its Dena destroyer to India for a large-scale multilateral exercise.
The Indian Navy’s largest-ever multilateral naval exercise, Milan 2024, was held in the eastern port city of Visakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal.
Warships from the navies of 50 countries participated in the harbor phase of the drill.
(UNI)
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