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(Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards clashed with a group of militants in the northwest of the country, killing two of them, the Tasnim news site reported on Sunday.

Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the Guards ground forces, said that four militants were also wounded and some military material was confiscated, according to Tasnim.

The report said the clashes took place in West Azarbaijan province, which borders both Turkey and Iraq, but did not specify when the incident took place.

Clashes with Iranian Kurdish militant groups based in Iraq are common in the area. Last month, the Revolutionary Guards engaged in heavy clashes with gunmen on the border with Iraq, killing three of them and sustaining one fatality, the Guards said in a statement.

On June 7, Islamic State attacked parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, killing at least 18 people. All of the attackers were Iranian Kurds.

The Revolutionary Guards fired several missiles at Islamic State bases in Syria on June 18 in response to that attack.

Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Richard Balmforth

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Iran's Guards clash with militants on western border, two killed - Reuters

India and Iran remain committed to the Chabahar port project, said the government after a meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, who met on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of Mr. Rouhani in Teheran to discuss bilateral issues.

During the meeting, Mr. Gadkari also handed over an invitation to the Iranian President to visit India.

Both sides reiterated their commitment to complete and operationalise the [Chabahar] Port at the earliest that would contribute to bilateral and regional trade and economic development and also provide alternative access to landlocked Afghanistan to regional and global markets, a statement from the MEA said on Sunday. The visit by a senior Minister like Mr. Gadkari, who represented India at the swearing-in ceremony for Mr. Rouhani on Saturday, is seen as a significant reach out by the government after months of a slide in relations between the two countries, while the statement on Chabahar port comes after months of delays in progress on the project. Once Chabahar is operationalised, which we are hopeful to be in 12 to 18 months time, it will prove to be a gateway to golden opportunities to boost trade and business, Mr. Gadkari told PTI in Teheran.

Oil imports

In the past few months, India has also slashed oil imports from Iran by as much as 20%, according to shipping figures released in June, and is expected to lower its projected imports further in the wake of growing tensions between Iran and the U.S.

On August 2, U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law new sanctions against Iran, indicating the tensions would rise further. India, which imported oil from the U.S. for the first time in July after PM Narendra Modis visit to the U.S., is increasing its oil intake from Iraq and Saudi Arabia instead.

Indicating the Iranian unhappiness over the moves, the government in Teheran cut down the credit period offered to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), and also inked an agreement for developing the Farzad-b gas fields to Russian company Gazprom, which Indias OVL had expected to win, and had made an $11 billion development bid for.

Although India and Afghanistan have both ratified the Chabahar trilateral deal inked last year in Teheran by Mr. Modi, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and President Rouhani, Irans internal processes have not been completed yet.

On the political front too, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei statements comparing the violence in Kashmir to that in Palestine suggested Irans unhappiness over PM Modis visit to Israel, and Mr. Gadkaris visit is seen as a bid by both sides to reset the relationship.

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Gadkari reaches out to Iran - The Hindu

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Residential and commercial properties sit illuminated on the city skyline in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015.

Security in the capital has been increased to the highest level, the police said, two months after gunmen linked to the Islamic State group attacked the parliament and the mausoleum of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, killing 17 people.

Rouhani's deputy said on Wednesday that Rouhani would keep on two important ministers for his second term: Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, who is largely credited with closing a deal with the French oil major Total, and Foreign Minister Zarif, Iran's lead negotiator in the nuclear agreement.

The powers of the elected president are limited by those of the unelected Supreme Leader who outranks him, but the scale of Rouhani's victory can give the pragmatist president a strong mandate.

However, analysts say Rouhani may struggle to make a significant impact given sharpening divisions in the dual clerical-republican power structure in Iran, and Trump's aggressive policy against Tehran.

While he spoke much about women's rights during his campaign, Rouhani is not expected to select any women for his cabinet.

He also has a debt to pay to reformists who put their weight behind his election campaign.

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Rouhani, embarking on second term in Iran, asks Europe not to side with Trump - CNBC

An Ambitious Expansion

The depth of Irans ties to the Taliban burst unexpectedly into view last year. An American drone struck a taxi on a desert road in southwestern Pakistan, killing the driver and his single customer.

The passenger was none other than the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour. A wanted terrorist with an American bounty on his head who had been on the United Nations sanctions list since before 2001, Mullah Mansour was traveling without guards or weapons, confident and quite at home in Pakistan.

The strike exposed for the second time since the discovery of Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani hill town of Abbottabad the level of Pakistans complicity with wanted terrorists. It was the first time the United States had conducted a drone attack in Pakistans Baluchistan Province, a longtime sanctuary for the Taliban but until then off limits for American drones because of Pakistani protests.

Yet even more momentous was that Mullah Mansour was returning from a trip to Iran, where he had been meeting Iranian security officials and, through Iran, with Russian officials.

Afghan officials, Western diplomats and security analysts, and a former Taliban commander familiar with Mullah Mansours inner circle confirmed details of the meetings.

Both Russia and Iran have acknowledged that they have held meetings with the Taliban but maintain that they are only for information purposes.

That the Taliban leader was personally developing ties with both Iran and Russia signaled a stunning shift in alliance for the fundamentalist Taliban movement, which had always been supported by the Sunni powers among the Arab gulf states and Pakistan.

But times were changing with the American drawdown in Afghanistan, and Mullah Mansour had been seeking to diversify his sources of money and weapons since taking over the Taliban leadership in 2013. He had made 13 trips to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and one to Bahrain, his passport showed, but also at least two visits to Iran.

Set on expanding the Talibans sway in Afghanistan, he was also preparing to negotiate an end to the war, playing all sides on his terms, according to both Afghan officials with close knowledge of the Taliban and the former Taliban commander close to Mullah Mansours inner circle.

It was that ambitious expansionism that probably got him killed, they said.

Mansour was a shrewd politician and businessman and had a broader ambition to widen his appeal to other countries, said Timor Sharan, a former senior analyst of the International Crisis Group in Afghanistan who has since joined the Afghan government.

Mullah Mansour had been tight with the Iranians since his time in the Taliban government in the 1990s, according to Mr. Kohistani, the military analyst. Their interests, he and other analysts and Afghan officials say, overlapped in opium. Afghanistan is the worlds largest source of the drug, and Iran the main conduit to get it out.

Irans border guards have long fought drug traffickers crossing from Afghanistan, but Irans Revolutionary Guards and the Taliban have both benefited from the illicit trade, exacting dues from traffickers.

The main purpose of Mullah Mansours trips to Iran was tactical coordination, according to Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A. analyst and fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. At the time, in 2016, the Taliban were gearing up for offensives across eight Afghan provinces. Farah was seen as particularly ripe fruit.

Iran facilitated a meeting between Mullah Mansour and Russian officials, Afghan officials said, securing funds and weapons from Moscow for the insurgents.

Mullah Mansours cultivation of Iran for weapons was done with the full knowledge of Pakistan, said the former Taliban commander, who did not want to be identified since he had recently defected from the Taliban.

He convinced the Pakistanis that he wanted to go there and get weapons, but he convinced the Pakistanis that he would not come under their influence and accept their orders, he said.

Pakistan had also been eager to spread the political and financial burden of supporting the Taliban and had encouraged the Talibans ties with Iran, said Haji Agha Lalai, a presidential adviser and the deputy governor of Kandahar Province.

On his last visit, Mullah Mansour traveled to the Iranian capital, Tehran, to meet someone very important possibly Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the former Taliban commander, who said he had gleaned the information from members of Mullah Mansours inner circle.

Mullah Mansour stayed for a week, also meeting with a senior Russian official in the town of Zahedan, said Mr. Lalai, who spoke with relatives of the Taliban leader.

He was almost certainly negotiating an escalation in Iranian and Russian assistance before his death, Mr. Lalai and other Afghan officials said, pointing to the increase in Iranian support for the Taliban during his leadership and since.

But the meeting with the Russians was apparently a step too far, Afghan officials say. His relations with Iran and Russia had expanded to the point that they threatened Pakistans control over the insurgency.

The United States had been aware of Mullah Mansours movements, including his ventures into Iran, for some time before the strike and had been sharing information with Pakistan, said Seth G. Jones, associate director at the RAND Corporation. Pakistan had also provided helpful information, he added. They were partly supportive of targeting Mansour.

Gen. John Nicholson, the United States commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, said President Barack Obama had approved the strike after Mullah Mansour failed to join peace talks being organized in Pakistan.

Col. Ahmad Muslem Hayat, a former Afghan military attach in London, said he believed that the American military had been making a point by striking Mullah Mansour on his return from Iran.

When they target people like this, they follow them for months, he said. It was smart to do it to cast suspicions on Iran. They were trying to create a gap between Iran and the Taliban.

But if that was the intention, Mr. Lalai said, it has not succeeded, judging by the way the new Taliban leader, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, has picked up his predecessors work.

I dont think the contact is broken, he said. Haibatullah is still reaching out to Iran. They are desperately looking for more money if they want to extend the fight.

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Iran Gains Ground in Afghanistan as US Presence Wanes - New York Times

If there is one place in the world where the difference of opinion between Europe and the USA over how to deal with Iran will be most glaringly apparent, it will be in Tehran this Saturday. That is where Iran's re-elected president, Hassan Rouhani, will take the oath of office for his second term. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will be among the guests at the ceremony. Germany will be represented by a deputy foreign minister.

Their appearance will stand in stark contrast to the attitude of the United States. Speaking in Saudi Arabia in May on his first foreign trip, US President Donald Trump said, "all nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran." The attitude signals a serious threat to the so-called Iran nuclear deal signed just two years ago.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement to contain Iran's nuclear activities was the basis for that country's return to the international stage and its reintegration into the global economic system after years of harsh sanctions. The core of the nuclear deal: Iran commits to rolling back parts of its nuclear program, as well as allowing regular inspections thereof, and in return, related sanctions will be suspended and eventually lifted altogether.

So far, the agreement has worked. In six consecutive reports, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has certified that Iran is upholding its end of the bargain. Therefore, the EU sees the nuclear deal as a major step toward making the world safer and stopping nuclear proliferation.

Two years ago the nuclear agreement was celebrated on the streets of Tehran

Read more: Iran vows to continue missile program as tensions flare with US

'Majority wants to derail the nuclear deal'

The mood in the USA couldn't be more different. Sascha Lohmann, from the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), told DW that both the president and Congress are skeptical about the deal. "A broad majority is in favor of scrapping the deal or trying to renegotiate a better one. That means there is a great danger that things may soon change on the US end of the agreement in the very near future," says Lohmann.

The next opportunity to initiate such a change will come in October. The US president is obliged to inform Congress whether or not Iran is continuing to uphold the agreement every 90 days so that the body can decide whether or not to extend sanctions relief. Trump has already done so twice, albeit with discernible reluctance and with obvious displeasure over the approach of his own State Department. Meanwhile, the White House has assembled its own working group on Iran tasked with finding a way for Trump to impose new nuclear-related sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Ali Vaez told DW that this fact leads him to fear that the Iran nuclear deal is in grave danger. An Iran expert from the International Crisis Group, Vaez says it is more than media reports claiming President Trump promises to refuse certifying Iranian compliance in October that concern him. When speaking with DW he added: "US government officials are openly calling for regime change in Iran." This also fits with Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that CIA Director Mike Pompeo has set up a special Iran Mission Center.

The Iran Mission Center, a new department within the CIA, should put greater pressure on Iran

'If they don't let us in, boom'

In its article, the WSJ quoted anonymous US officials who said the CIA's activities mirrored the Trump administration's prioritization of Iran as a target for US agents. Pompeo has been a hawk on Iran for years and has harshly criticized the nuclear deal in the past.

But the deal is working as far as Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee is concerned. Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has lobbied against derailing the agreement. But his true intentions became clear in a recent interview with David Ignatius of the Washington Post (WaPo). "What you want is you want the breakup of this deal to be about Iran. You don't want it to be about the United States," said Corker. He also called for "radically enforcing" the agreement, for instance by demanding access to "various facilities in Iran. If they don't let us in, boom."

Sword dance and tweets

European allies, on the other hand, have shown no intention of following the US's lead. For Rolf Mtzenich, chairman of the German-Iranian parliamentary group in Germany's lower house, the Bundestag, the presence of European foreign policy representatives at Rouhani's inauguration sends a clear signal that Europe "intends to maintain its contract-based agreement with Iran." At the same time it sends the message that, "we want to continue to work in trusting cooperation with President Rouhani." In Mtzenich's opinion that is important because he sees Rouhani as a guarantor for Iran opening itself to the world "unlike other actors in Iran."

EU High Representative Mogherini is relentless in her promotion of the nuclear deal as well: She was the first foreign politician to congratulate Rouhani on his election victory, via Twitter and at the same time she used the opportunity to emphasize European willingness to work toward accomplishing the aims of the agreement.

'EU companies aren't regulated in Brussels but rather in Washington'

Should the USA actually break away from the JCPAO it would have far-reaching consequences even if other partners stuck with it. Those partners are the EU, Germany, France, the UK, China and Russia. The economic exchange that has finally been reignited could suffer greatly, as so-called secondary sanctions could hit European companies doing business with Iran. SWP Iran-expert Lohmann was very clear when speaking with DW: "We are faced with the problem that EU companies are not actually being regulated by Brussels, but rather by Washington. That is why big companies have openly said: US sanctions are the determining factor for us. Even if we have no legal consequences to fear from the European side, we still won't do business with Iran. We are too scared of violating US sanctions."

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Europe and USA on a collision course over Iran nuclear deal - Deutsche Welle