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| Sunday, 25 September 2005 |
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Indian PM urges Iran on nuclear issue NEW DELHI, Saturday (AFP) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has advised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to make concessions on the issue of its nuclear program, the foreign ministry here said in a statement. Singh received a phone call from Ahmadinejad at the Iranian's request during which they discussed the growing storm over Iran's nuclear agenda, said the statement, issued late Friday. "(Singh) advised him that Iran should consider taking a flexible position so as to avoid a confrontation. The prime minister repeated the necessity for Iran to make concessions to this end," it said. Iran's resumption last month of uranium conversion, a first step in making enriched uranium, has set off a crisis in which the United States and the European Union (EU) want to call in the international weight of the Security Council, which could in principle impose trade sanctions. Some US legislators have said that if New Delhi does not support any bid by Washington to refer Iran to the Security Council, the administration should freeze its landmark July agreement to expand civilian nuclear cooperation with India. The agreement to lift restrictions on India's access to sensitive nuclear technology can only be implemented if the US Congress amends certain laws. At a congressional hearing on September 8, US legislators expressed anger over what they viewed as anti-US remarks by Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh when he held talks in Tehran with Ahmadinejad early in the month. The EU on Friday tabled a motion at the UN atomic watchdog that finds Iran in violation of international nuclear safeguards, setting the stage for it to be reported to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, diplomats said. Delaying immediate referral for activities which the United States claims hide covert nuclear weapons work was a compromise to win support on the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors for a tough move that could draw sharp Iranian reaction escalating the crisis. The board is to reconvene Saturday to "decide on the draft resolution," with the decision coming either by consensus, as is usual at the IAEA, or a vote, which is likely due to the divisive nature of the issue, a diplomat close to the IAEA said. The resolution is bitterly opposed by Russia, which is building Iran's first nuclear reactor, and China, which buys Iranian oil, as well as non-aligned states which see the threat of Security Council referral as an escalation of the crisis. Iran warned Friday that it would view the IAEA's referring it to the Security Council as a "confrontation," in comments in Vienna by Iranian security official Javad Vaidi. |
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