• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Nuke deal will die if India did not vote against Iran: US

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Jan 25, IRNA
India-US-Nuke-Iran
US Ambassador to India David C Mulford said India should vote against Iran or the nuke deal will 'die'.

Just a week ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting on Iran issue, the US made it clear if India did not vote against Tehran's nuclear program, the fallout on the Indo-US nuclear deal in the Congress would be 'devastating' and the initiative will 'die', Mulford said in an interview to a leading Indian news agency PTI here Wednesday.

"We have made it known to India that we would very much like India's support because India has arrived on the world stage and is a very very important player in the world," he said.

"If India opposes Iran having nuclear weapons, we think they should record it in the vote", he added.

Mulford's observations come amid intensified efforts by the US and EU-3 (Britain, France and Germany) to seek world support for the resolution to be placed at the February 2 IAEA meeting for referring Iran's nuclear issue to the UN Security Council for action.

The US envoy said an 'observation' had also been conveyed to India that if New Delhi decided not to vote for the resolution, 'the effect on members of the US Congress with regard to Indo-US civil nuclear initiative will be devastating'.

"I think the Congress will simply stop considering the matter. I think the initiative will die in the Congress not because the administration would want it," Mulford said, five days after Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran held talks with US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns on the subject.

The ambassador said this should be part of the calculations.

'India will have to keep in mind' while taking a decision on the Iran issue at the IAEA meet.

India had voted in favor of the IAEA resolution against Iran in September based on its judgment of its own national interests, he said.

"Again, India will have to make a determination on what its national interests are. That is an issue firmly in the hands of the Indian government to decide," he said.

Besides the US Congress, Mulford said India's decision would also have to satisfy the 35 country Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in which a consensus has to be evolved with regard to the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal, reached between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush in Washington on July 18 last year.

Observing that the US had made an 'offer which is historic in every sense of the word' in the form of the civilian nuclear deal, Mulford said the Indian leadership had acknowledged it as being the 'most important diplomatic initiative in 50 years'.

"It is being given a chance to become a single exception in the system that has been there for the last 30-40 years to move from outside of NPT system to be associated in a way that strengthens NPT and allows full flow of technology, fuel and equipment to India's civilian nuclear industry without capping its nuclear weapons capability or undermining it," he said.

Mulford noted that without formally recognizing India (as a nuclear power), New Delhi was 'permitted to enjoy the benefits and accept same duties as major players in the NPT system'.

Terming it as an 'absolutely fantastic offer', the ambassador said the conditions to be met for it to be satisfactorily negotiated depended on credible separation of civilian nuclear from strategic.

2160-1/2322/1412