INDIA once again backed a United States-sponsored resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on November 27 censuring Iran for constructing a new uranium processing plant near Teheran. A similar Indian action in 2006 had frayed its relations with Iran. The timing of the latest resolution was suspect as Mohammed ElBaradei, who stepped down as IAEA Director General on November 30, had confirmed that the inspectors found nothing to worry about in the new plant. Iran has been forced to be secretive about the location of its processing plants under construction given the repeated threats by the West and Israel to take military action against the existing sites.
The IAEA resolution urges Iran to clarify that there are no more hidden nuclear plants and wants an immediate halt to the construction of the second enrichment facility. The resolution was tabled after Iran refused to accept an IAEA-supported deal under which the countrys low-enriched uranium would be sent to a third country for further enrichment and then returned for use in Teherans medical research centre. The Teheran Research Reactor produces radioisotopes used in cancer treatment by over 200 hospitals in Iran. Teheran has stated that it is not opposed to the IAEA proposal but wants the proposed swap of enriched uranium to take place on Iranian territory.
The U.S. administration under Barack Obama had lobbied strenuously with major powers for support to the IAEA resolution. During his recent visits, Obama had persuaded Moscow and Beijing to vote in favour of the resolution. The issue also figured in his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington. Indian officials have said that New Delhi voted for the resolution as it did not want Iran, a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory to acquire nuclear weapons. New Delhis priority is to tie up all the loose ends of the India-U.S. nuclear deal that was signed during the George W. Bush regime.
There is also pressure from Washington on India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the NPT. Only three countries Venezuela, Cuba and Malaysia sided with Iran in the IAEA vote, which was carried 25 to 3. Countries such as Afghanistan, Brazil, Pakistan, Egypt, South Africa and Turkey abstained from voting. Iran reacted angrily. Its envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, rejected the resolution as hasty and undue and called for depoliticisation of the IAEA, which he said, should only focus on technical matters.
Ali Larijani, the influential Speaker of the Iranian Assembly, dismissed the IAEA resolution as useless and said that Iran would never waver on the nuclear issue. The West is at a crossroads. Either they accept our nuclear programme, or Iran will use its own capabilities, said Larijani.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran would itself enrich uranium up to 20 per cent. He went on to add that Iran planned to build 10 more uranium enrichment plants modelled on the one in Natanz. Ahmadinejad reiterated that his country would not be cowed down by threats from the U.S. and its ally, Israel. There are strident calls being made in the West for more punitive sanctions and even military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. According to The Washington Post, senior officials sent by Obama conveyed to Beijing the U.S. view that Irans nuclear programme was an existential issue for Israel and that countries with existential issues dont listen to other countries.
Russia and China have called for restraint and are unlikely to support moves in the United Nations Security Council to impose broader sanctions on Iran though there are indications that Russia has toughened its stance against Iran in recent months after the U.S. decision to withdraw missiles from the Czech Republic and Poland. But Russia also has extensive trade and military ties with Iran. And Iran is the second biggest supplier of oil to China. If tougher sanctions are imposed or military action taken against Iran, China will have to depend on the pro-West regimes in the region for its oil needs.
Indian officials have said that the IAEA resolution should not be the basis for more punitive sanctions. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who was in Delhi before the IAEA resolution was passed, told this correspondent that his countrys relations with India were good. Manmohan Singh is due to visit Teheran soon. His visit was scheduled in early 2010, but he is expected to go to Iran only after Obama visits India in March 2010. New Delhi seems to be worried that Washington will get the wrong signals if Manmohan Singhs trip is scheduled before Obamas arrival on Indian shores.
John CherianCOMMents
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