New Delhi, June 11
Despite its stand that the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully, India will abide by the new sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against the Islamic nation.
“We are an active member of the UN system… we will have to implement the Security Council resolution,’’ official sources said. The said that India would, however, continue to advocate that dialogue and diplomacy be given a chance to end the stand-off between the West and Iran over its alleged clandestine nuclear weapons programme. “New Delhi continues to hold the view that sanctions are counter-productive as they only hurt the common people,” sources said.
The fourth round of US-initiated sanctions approved by the Security Council target Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and include freezing the assets of 40 additional companies and organisations -- 15 linked to the guards, 22 involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities and three linked to the Islamic nation’s shipping lines. The sanctions also bar pursuing ‘any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons’, investing in nuclear-related activities like uranium mining and buying some categories of heavy weapons, including attack helicopters and missiles.
Senior Indian officials recalled that India had been enforcing all UN measures against Iran over its nuclear programme since 2006. New Delhi, in fact, has voted against Iran thrice at the IAEA, despite the age-old ties between the two nations, an action that has made Tehran somewhat unhappy.
Experts say India would have to tread cautiously on the Iran issue, given New Delhi’s geo-political interests. India needs Iran to advance its interests in Afghanistan as also to meet its energy needs.
Officials said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reinforced on a number of occasions the fact that India shares international concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran, which is not in the interest of the stability of the region. The sources acknowledged that New Delhi would certainly be in a fix if the US and the European Union (EU) were to go ahead with unilateral sanctions that could target Iran’s energy sector, thus affecting India’s energy security interests.
