We are "very accurately" examining the Jadhav issue: Iran

Iran today said it was examining "very accurately" the issue of arrest of an ex-Indian Navy officer by Pakistan on charges of planning "subversive activities" in Balochistan after allegedly entering the country through Iran.
Iranian envoy Gholamreza Ansari, in an interaction with the media, also ruled out any possibility of the Iran-Pakistan -India gas pipeline project taking off, saying "we should forget about it".
When asked about Jadhav's arrest, he said, "First of all we are trying to complete our own information about the case. And I don't think I am in a position now to say any word about that. But definitely we are looking into this issue very accurately."

Jadhav was arrested last month by Pakistan, which described him as an officer of the Indian Navy, a claim debunked by the Indian government. India said he had no link with the government since premature retirement from the Navy.
Official sources had said here that Jadhav owned a small ship and used to carry cargo from Bandar Abbas and Chabahar ports in Iran and other adjoining areas to various locations.
Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's possible visit to Iran, the Iranian envoy did not give any timeline but said talks on it are on. "The sooner the Prime Minister visits Iran the better it will be," he said.

The Iranian Ambassador pitched for deeper bilateral cooperation between India and Iran in a range of areas, saying Indo-Iran ties were was becoming increasingly important in the regional as well as international stage.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had paid a two-day visit to Iran last week during which both sides had decided to step up engagement in oil some other sectors.
On the IPI project, Ansari said those who have invested in the LNG (liquified petroleum gas) projects in India will not allow the pipeline venture among India, Iran and Pakistan to take off.
"People who have invested in LNG in India, I don't think they will let any pipes to come in. Americans are looking for the Indian market for the future and any sort of pipeline will put and end to these investments. So I don't think pipeline can be a serious project. I am sure Americans will not let this project go ahead," he said.

India has been boycotting formal talks on the project since 2007 over security concerns as the pipelines would have to pass through Pakistan.
Asked about terror from Pakistani soil targeting Iran, he said it was a challenge and the two countries were trying to cooperate to deal with the scourge.
Asked about the Chabahar port on which proposals to
develop it have been cleared by the NDA government recently, Ansari said it was very important for Iran as well as India from connectvity point of view.
"It will give a good access to Indians to Afghanistan, to Central Asia, Russia and North Europe. According to a test that was done recently, it would be 40 per cent cheaper for Indian goods to go to Europe...But I don't think Americans will be able to use that," he said.

Asked about how Iran is balancing Chabahar and Gwadar, which is situated in Pakistan's Balochistan province, the Iraninan envoy stressed that the two were not "competing issues".
"I don't think Chabahar and Gwadar are competing against each other. We are not looking at Chabahar this way and Chabahar is not a new offer to the Indians. The first time it was directly offered it was 2003. And maybe in the future these two ports can be linked as well," Ansari said.
He identified the areas of energy, connectivity and metals as ripe for cooperation between India and Iran.
Throughout his interaction, Ansari repeatedly underlined that Iran believes that its "new approach", that of economic and people-to-people cooperation, was the only solution to the issues plaguing the Middle East region including the raging conflicts.

"We should change the paradigm in the region," he said.
However, Iran was "not happy" with American behaviour post the lifting of sanctions following its talks with the P5+1 group. He also accused the US of holding double standards and said a new US President would not change the current template of relations.