News Story: Iran urges U.S. naval forces to leave Persian Gulf

TEHRAN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran's defense minister on Thursday called on the U.S. naval forces to leave the Persian Gulf, Tasnim news agency reported.

"What is the business of the Americans in the Persian Gulf? They are better to leave this region and do not cause problems for the regional states," Hossein Dehqan said.

"Is it acceptable to lay the red carpet for an ignorant armed thief who enters one's house," Dehqan said in a reaction to the U.S. naval commanders' claims that the Iranian naval forces harass U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Ports For Pawns - How India-China Rivalry is Panning Out in the Persian Gulf

India-backed Chabahar port and China-developed Gwadar port could become the launch pads for a strategic rivalry between New Delhi and Beijing. But, it may also open another route for trade and commerce cooperation under the One Belt, One Road initiative.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Chinese Navy's latest plans to expand its marine corps and station new marine brigades in Gwadar, Pakistan and in Djibouti near the Gulf of Aden, will raise eyebrows in New Delhi and give fresh impetus to Indian efforts to expedite the completion of the Chabahar port in Iran. India's shipping minister Nitin Gadkari had expressed optimism last week that the first phase of the strategically located port in Iran will be complete by 2018.

What the two seemingly unrelated developments bring to the fore is that India-China rivalry is expanding in the Persian Gulf with both countries hedging their bets on strategically located ports and increasing their naval presence.