Iran, Syria stress support for resistance

ISNA-Iranian Deputy Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Bagheri said negotiation for cooperation is the only option in the arena of regional and international interactions.

Bagheri who has visited Damascus for a two-day trip discussed bilateral relations as well as regional and international developments with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"Iran and Syria are strong pillars of resistance in the region," Bagheri said as stressing solidarity in resistance process in confrontation of aggressive policy and measures of Zionist regime.

He also highlighted continuous failures of Zionist regime’s reconciliatory plans and its international isolation and said, "today, regional nations have foiled enemies’ conspiracy and the number of states supporting resistance in the region have mounted."

Assad on his part voiced optimism on developments in Palestine and Lebanon and emphasized unity of Palestine supporters in confrontation of Zionist regime’s actions and policies.

UPDATE: India Central Bank Payments Directive To Hit Iran Trade

Wall Street Journal--India’s central bank Monday imposed what is effectively a curb on trade with Iran, in an indication of New Delhi’s growing closeness with Washington.

The Reserve Bank of India late Monday told the country’s lenders to stop processing current account transactions with Iran using the Asian Clearing Union arrangement, a move which will increase deal costs and make trade cumbersome.

New Delhi is treading a thin line: it is increasingly engaging with the U.S. to satisfy its ambition of playing a greater role in global affairs, but it can’t afford to upset its Muslim neighbors because it depends on them for oil and for support on its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir.

India is a major oil importer, and brings in $11 billion of crude oil annually from Iran--about 14% of its total crude import bill. The country is India’s biggest crude oil supplier after Saudi Arabia.

Also, Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd. and other Indian majors are exploring how to develop oil and gas resources jointly with companies in Iran, the world’s fifth-largest crude exporter.

Explaining its call Monday, the Reserve Bank of India said that the directive to settle Iran trade payments outside the ACU arrangement is because of "the difficulties being experienced by importers/exporters in payments to/receipts from Iran."

The Asian Clearing Union is an arrangement where the participants settle payments for intra-regional transactions among member central banks, helping economize the use of foreign exchange and transfer costs.

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Iran, Myanmar, Bhutan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka are members of the union, according to the ACU website.

Monday’s action follows a move Friday when the central bank said that all payments for the import of oil or gas should be settled in any permitted currency outside the ACU mechanism.

Continued... While that order didn’t explicitly mention Iran, the Islamic republic is the only major crude oil exporter inside the ACU.