The Hindu : National : "Iranian naval personnel in Kochi only for routine visit"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 03, 2006

National

National

"Iranian naval personnel in Kochi only for routine visit"

Staff Reporter

The two ships were not frontline warships

KOCHI: Concern in the United States about Indian Navy personnel having trained their counterparts in the Iranian Navy in Kochi is unwarranted, sources in the Indian Navy said.

A U.S. Senator reportedly expressed concern at India training Iranian naval personnel at the Southern Naval Command (SNC) in Kochi. The Iranians arrived here in two ships in early March.

No special training

"The personnel aboard two ships - IRIN Bandar Abbas (a training ship) and IRIN Lavan (an amphibious ship) arrived in Kochi on March 3 and left on March 8. They called on Kochi for a routine visit, which is a normal practice for ships from friendly navies. The Indian Navy did not arrange any special training for Iranian personnel," the source said.

"Moreover, four days is too short a period to give training, especially when the Iranians knew little English. In between, the guests played football and basketball matches with personnel of the Indian Navy. Indian naval ships too frequently visit ports of friendly countries."

As the SNC is the training command unit of the Indian Navy, the visitors were exposed to yachting and boat pulling, done by navies across the world. They also visited the Navigation and Direction School of the command and tried their hand at a ship-handling simulator on board the bridge of ships.

A visit to naval establishments is a normal practice when ships of friendly navies come to anchor. Also, the two ships were merely logistics ships and not frontline warships. They were berthed in the Boat-Terminal Passenger (BTP) berth of the Cochin Port Trust, Naval sources said.

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