Iran is revelling in a propaganda coup by hosting a major trade delegation from India, which, along with China and Turkey, has rebuffed pressure from Washington to isolate the Islamic republic because of its nuclear ambitions.
US-led sanctions against Iran have provided India with a welcome opportunity to improve its lop-sided trade balance with Tehran.
Energy hungry India buys $14 billion (Dh51.4 bn) worth of oil from Iran a year but sells Tehran just $2.7 bn of goods.
To bypass US banking sanctions, India agreed last month to pay for 45 per cent of its Iranian oil imports in rupees rather than the US dollar.
That money would stay in Iran and be used to fund Iranian purchases of Indian goods.
It is a lucrative deal that India said would provide "huge opportunities" for it to export goods to Iran such as tea, rice, wheat, textiles, pharmaceuticals and factory machinery.
All of these are needed by Iran and none are outlawed by UN sanctions.
Indian and Iranian experts estimate bilateral trade could reach $30 bn by 2015.
The 70-member Indian trade delegation, which wraps up its five-day visit tomorrow, has declined to name the companies taking part, apparently because of concerns about potential US reprisals.
Pro-Israeli groups in the US and politicians in Washington have criticised India for undermining international efforts to isolate Iran, Opec's second largest producer.
New Delhi has no desire to upset its good relations with the United States or Israel, which is a key arms supplier to India.
But neither does it like being hectored or lectured by either country when India has its own geo-political and commercial interests to consider.
India, which relies on Iran for about 12 per cent of its oil imports, sees its good ties with Tehran as an important regional counter-balance to its arch-rival, Pakistan.
"Has not US military aid to Pakistan been more gravely damaging to India's immediate security interests than India's oil trade with Iran is to the US?," Ramesh Thakur, a nuclear non-proliferation expert at the Australian National University, wrote in The Australian newspaper yesterday.
India also views Iran as a vital pathway to Afghanistan as regional countries jockey for position there ahead of the withdrawal of US and other foreign combat forces from that country at the end of 2014.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said last month that Washington was engaging in "very intense and very blunt" conversations with India, China and Turkey to stop oil imports from Iran.
All three countries are resisting that pressure, saying they will abide by UN sanctions against Iran but will not implement others imposed unilaterally by the US or European Union.
Angered by claims that New Delhi was undermining an international drive to curb Iran's nuclear programme, India's embassy in Washington issued a robust statement last week.
India has repeatedly said Iran must address concerns by the UN's nuclear watchdog about its nuclear programme, the diplomatic mission said.
But India's critics should not overlook "the imperative of India's dependence on oil imports from Iran the energy needs of its people".
Iran is India's second biggest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia.
Iran is reported to have offered to supply oil to India with its own tankers if India is unable to charter vessels because of insurance problems.
Ishrat Aziz, an Indian former diplomat told Al Jazeera yesterday: "We are not going to take sides… This (American) idea that you are with us or against us is really not acceptable and is something we must resist and, in fact, reject."
mtheodoulou@thenational.ae
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Scoreline
Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90 1')
Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')
Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
more from Janine di Giovanni
BLACKBERRY
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
(All games 4-3pm kick UAE time) Bayern Munich v Augsburg, Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg v Mainz , Eintracht Frankfurt v Freiburg, Union Berlin v RB Leipzig, Cologne v Schalke , Werder Bremen v Borussia Monchengladbach, Stuttgart v Arminia Bielefeld
The biog
Siblings: five brothers and one sister
Education: Bachelors in Political Science at the University of Minnesota
Interests: Swimming, tennis and the gym
Favourite place: UAE
Favourite packet food on the trip: pasta primavera
What he did to pass the time during the trip: listen to audio books
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Pakistanis%20at%20the%20ILT20%20
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
THREE
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Company%20Profile
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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