Ambassador Warns India On Nuke Deal

Says If India Doesn't Side With U.S. On Iran, Deal Could 'Die'

(AP)  "The position that India will take on this issue at the IAEA will be based on India's own independent judgment."

New Delhi voted in September with the U.S. and European powers on an earlier IAEA resolution that could have led to Iran's referral to the council.

But the Indian government faced fierce domestic criticism over the move from its left-wing political allies, who accused it of selling out a longtime ally to curry favor with Washington, and New Delhi has in recent weeks appeared hesitant to repeat the vote.

Such a vote could also threaten a plan by India, which has few domestic sources of fuel, to build a 1,750-mile gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan, a project that has raised concerns in Washington.

"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 important player in the world," Mulford said Wednesday.

The U.S.-India nuclear deal marks a major policy shift for the United States, which imposed sanctions on India in 1998 after it conducted nuclear tests. The restrictions have since been lifted.

Under the deal, Washington is to share civilian nuclear technology and supply nuclear fuel to India in return for New Delhi separating its tightly entwined civilian and military nuclear programs and allowing international inspections of its civilian atomic facilities.

The separation is necessary because the United States has only agreed to recognize India as having a civilian nuclear program — not as a legitimate nuclear weapons state.

But some members of the U.S. Congress have expressed reservations about ratifying the deal, arguing that it could undermine the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which India has not signed.