World | India
New Delhi snubs Washington over Iran prompt
Urging the United States not to arrogate the task of determining whether Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, India yesterday called for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be allowed to fulfil its brief.
- IANS
- Published: 00:31 April 24, 2008
New Delhi: Urging the United States not to arrogate the task of determining whether Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, India yesterday called for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be allowed to fulfil its brief.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made New Delhi's position clear by pointing out that Tehran, a signatory to the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), was obliged to abide by IAEA guidelines. "The US should not take responsibility upon itself to determine whether Iran is making nuclear weapons or not," he said.
Mukherjee's remarks can be seen in the context of the latest round of brinkmanship between India and the US on the Iranian issue before the arrival on April 29 in New Delhi of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Iranian president is scheduled to be here only for about eight hours but his brief halt in the capital has already sparked off a series of comments from the US and India.
Friends stay just so
In yet another remark directed largely at the US, Mukherjee also made it clear India would not participate in any military exercises that were directed against friendly countries. "We will not support war exercises against friendly countries," Mukherjee said.
He was speaking before a large number of journalists at the Parliament Library last afternoon. The Lok Sabha secretariat had organised an "Orientation Programme" for media persons covering proceedings of the House.
The US State department spokesman had on Tuesday told newsmen in Washington that the US expected India to raise the Iranian nuclear programme during talks with Ahmadinejad and use its influence to make Iran stop its uranium enrichment. New Delhi retorted that India and Iran were quite capable of conducting their bilateral relations without guidance from a third party.
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