http://in.news.yahoo.com/070802/139/6iy6l.html
India develops intelligence outposts in Iran: Report
By ANI
Washington, Aug 2 (ANI): In what may be a major power-projection advantage for New Delhi in case of any future conflict with Islamabad, India has reportedly developed intelligence outposts in Iran.
South Asia expert Christine Fair of the US Institute of Peace (USIP) has written in an article that these outposts have been developed at the Indian consulate in Zahedan and a relatively new consulate in Bandar Abbas.
The article, published in the latest issue of Washington Quarterly, further claims that India is planning to sell Iran the Konkurs anti-tank missile.
"In the past, India helped Iran develop submarine batteries that were more effective in the warm-weather Persian Gulf waters than its Russian-manufactured batteries, and (now India) is planning to sell Iran the Konkurs anti-tank missile," she writes.
Fair was quoted in an article by Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Times reported.
According to Stephens, the DefenseNews had run a report on March 19 about an Indo-Iran agreement, "which follows the broader strategic partnership accord the two countries signed in 2003, emerged from high-level talks held here during the March 4-9 visit of Rear Admiral Sajjad Kouchaki Badlani, commander of Iran's Navy".
Interestingly, India's relationship with Iran is driven as much by the desire to encircle Pakistan and gain access to Afghanistan as it is by energy concerns, Stephens writes while expressing dissatisfaction over US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns' defence of the 123-Agreement concluded between New Delhi and Washington. (ANI)
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