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Nuclear Deal Could Die if India Fails to Back U.S. Position on Iran, Ambassador Says
U.S. Ambassador to India David Mulford said yesterday that if India does not support Iran’s referral to the U.N. Security Council, a nuclear technology sharing agreement between Washington and New Delhi could stall, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Jan. 25). “The effect on members of the U.S. Congress ... will be devastating” if India does not back the U.S. position, Mulford said. “I think the Congress will simply stop considering” the deal, he said. The agreement “will die in the Congress, not because the administration would want it.” Embassy spokesman David Kennedy originally backed the comments, saying Mulford “just wanted to give his honest opinion.” The embassy later said the comments were taken in the improper context. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack in Washington said that Mulford was speaking for himself but that his comments echoed lawmakers’ “very strongly held feelings” on the deal (Matthew Rosenberg, Associated Press, Jan. 26). McCormack added that the agreement and India’s stance on Iran are not linked, according to Agence France-Presse. “We deal with the Indian government on these two issues as separate issues,” he said. “Certainly, they come up in the same conversations, I'll tell you that.” McCormack said that the United States has encouraged India to back Washington’s position but that “ultimately, that is going to be their decision” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 25). India has argued that Iran should not have nuclear weapons but that negotiations are the best way to persuade Tehran to comply. “We categorically reject any attempt to link (Iran) to the proposed Indo-U.S. agreement on civil nuclear energy cooperation," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in statement following Mulford’s comments. “The position that India will take on this issue at the [International Atomic Energy Agency] will be based on India's own independent judgment” (Rosenberg, Associated Press). Meanwhile, former Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said yesterday that the Indian parliament has to take a close look at the deal to avoid “permanent damage” to New Delhi’s nuclear program, the Press Trust of India reported. “The manner in which these negotiations are carried out raises serious doubts about intentions of the government,” said Sinha, who now serves in India’s upper house of parliament. The Bhartiya Janta Party leader accused to United Progressive Alliance government of clandestinely pursuing the deal. He said a committee with members from both parties should monitor the agreement as it is finalized. “This will ensure that the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal does not do any permanent damage to our sovereign and independent nuclear program,” he said. Sinha claimed the United States was attempting to pressure India to place its fast breeder programs under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. “The thorium-based fast breeder program is entirely indigenous ... and under no circumstances be subject to intrusive inspections at this stage of its development,” he said (Press Trust of India, Jan. 26).
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