New Delhi, March 5: The chief of the Iranian Navy is on a six-day visit to India even as the US deploys more warships in the Persian Gulf. The Indian defence establishment has been asked to keep the visit low-profile because it showcases a military-to-military relationship that New Delhi wants to keep going but underplay.

Rear Admiral Sajjad Kochaki met defence minister A.K. Antony, the navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta, army chief General J.J. Singh and the air force chief Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi in the defence headquarters this morning where he was also given a guard of honour — a ritual followed for every state invitee.

But the defence ministry did not put out a press statement either on his engagements in New Delhi, the talks he had or even about his programme in Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. Press statements on visits of chiefs of foreign militaries are routine.

A navy source said Kochaki’s visit was reciprocal. In January 2003, the former Indian Navy chief, Admiral Madhvendra Singh, had given an invitation during a visit to Iran. Even that visit was kept low-profile. But since then, two training ships of the Iranian Navy docked at the naval port in Kochi in March last year. The Indian Navy cadet training ship INS Krishna has also made a port visit to Bandar Abbas.

A defence official said India’s naval exchanges with Iran “were part of our policy to maintain friendly relations with all countries in the Persian Gulf where we have a diaspora of 5 million people and from where most of our oil is sourced”.

The Iranian government’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Kochaki as saying after his meetings that he described military relations with India as “historical”. The IRNA reported that the two sides discussed the formation of expert groups “to work out deployment of naval force in the Oman Sea and the Indian Ocean”.

Kochaki is also said to have proposed the establishment of a search and rescue centre for submarines at either Chabahar on the Iranian coast near the Strait of Hormuz or at a base in India. There was no confirmation of these proposals from the Indian side.

Rear Admiral Kochaki, a submariner himself, is expected to be given a tour of the Eastern and Western Naval Commands. Visakhapatnam is also the home base of India’s submarine fleet.

The Iranian Navy has three submarines and is currently involved in military exercises in Iranian waters.