India welcomes Iran-US MoU, NSA Doval warns of emerging threats

INdia on tues welcomed the apprehension betwixt persia and the US on ceasing belligerency in West Asia, with National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval saying it has the potential to ensure energy security, restore freedom of navigation and remove supply chain bottlenecks for key commodities.At the same time, Doval highlighted non-traditional threats such as disruptive technologies and new forms of terrorism while addressing a meeting of NSAs and senior security officials of BRICS member states. The meeting hosted by India was attended by China’s foreign minister Wang Yi, who also functions as the NSA, and Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu.Also Read:Doval meets China’s Wang Yi, holds ‘constructive and forward-looking discussions’“India welcomes the MoU reached between the US and Iran. We have cautious optimism and we hope that it will work. It will help energy security, the opening of the Strait of Hormuz is a very welcome development. It will remove supply chain bottlenecks and many of the shortages in the field of fertilisers, chemicals will be [overcome],” Doval said at the start of the meeting.The meeting, he said, is being held at a “very tumultuous time”, when the world is grappling with military conflicts, complex security problems, geopolitical uncertainties, economic strains, and disruptive technologies. While threats are compounding, instruments and institutional mechanisms to deal with them are increasingly inadequate, he said.“We need to be cognisant of the new security threats and challenges. Non-traditional threats have transcended national borders and developed defeat systems against conventional responses. Innovative disruptive technologies, more camouflaged variants of terrorism, cyber threats in a world that is getting increasingly digitised — they all constitute important threats for us,” Doval said.As in the case of the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting held in May, there were differences between the representatives of Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the NSAs’ meeting, according to social media posts by the Iranian embassy.Also Read:NSA Ajit Doval meets top Iranian security official, reviews West Asia situationDuring the deliberations held behind closed doors, Ghadir Nezamipour, the deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, displayed a poster of children killed in a strike on a school in the Iranian city of Minab “on the first day of the aggression…by the US”, and said part of the attacks against his country were launched from bases in the UAE.Nezamipour also rejected allegations made against Iran by the representative of the UAE, according to the social media posts. The exact nature of the allegations could not immediately be ascertained, though UAE officials have accused Iran of targeting energy facilities and other infrastructure.“The entire world witnessed that the US and the Zionist regime were the initiators of the aggression and the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. Part of these attacks were launched from bases located on the territory of the United Arab Emirates,” Nezamipour said.“Nevertheless, instead of condemning these hostile actions, the UAE directly participated in the aggression and allowed its territory to be used as a platform for attacks against Iran’s civilian infrastructure, schools and hospitals.”Iran hopes the UAE, “instead of engaging in propaganda and adventurism, will respect the principles of good neighbourliness and choose the path of peace, stability and regional cooperation”, Nezamipour said.The Iranian official made four proposals for enhancing cooperation among BRICS member states, including the creation of a “crisis management and resilience enhancement institution” to coordinate national capacities and strengthen collective preparedness in the face of emerging threats and crises, and the creation of an “integrated network for monitoring, early warning and security information exchange” among national security bodies to facilitate timely identification of and coordinated response to hybrid and transnational threats.Nezamipour also called for expanding strategic and comprehensive cooperation within the BRICS framework to counter unilateralism, prevent external interference in internal affairs of sovereign states and strengthen a multilateral order. He suggested a “BRICS technology innovation and artificial intelligence consortium” can facilitate the development of indigenous capabilities and digital sovereignty, reduce technological dependence, and counter monopolistic practices in advanced technologies.