In an all-time low in Indian-Iranian relations, Bharat (aka India) has come out in the open and voted against Iran. The last Bharati vote against Iran came with a heavy price—energy starved Delhi lost the multi-million Dollar CNG gas deal and Tehran signed the gas pipeline deal with Pakistan. Iranian diplomats were in Delhi last week and tried to convince Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia’s government not to kowtow to US pressure and vote against Iran. However the Israeli pressure on Bharat and diktats from America’s wishes forced Bharat to abandon the remnants of any relationship with Tehran.
The IAEA decision was supported by 25 of the 35 countries on the Board of Governors, diplomats said.
Only Cuba, Malaysia and Venezuela voted against it and the rest abstained or were absent. Iran is not a board member.
By initiating this first IAEA decision on Iran since 2006, the five permanent Security Council members and Germany reinforced their position that they are ready to consider new sanctions if Tehran does not come around in the nuclear stand-off.
Iran claims it was within its rights to inform the IAEA only in September, at least two years after starting construction. But IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has said Tehran was obliged to give notice as soon as it decided to build the facility in Fordu, near the city of Qom. Hindustan Times
The lines are now drawn. Bharat and Israel vs. Iran. This may have long term consequences for the politics of Asia. Tehran has indicated that it will retaliate against Bharat. In what way remains to be seen. The obvious target would be to end Bharati involvement in Chahbahar port and disallowance of transit facilities to Bharat for access to Central Asia.
VIENNA: The UN nuclear agency’s board censured Iran on Friday, with 25 nations including India backing a resolution that demands Tehran immediately halt construction of its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed UN Security Council resolutions calling on it to stop uranium enrichment
Iran remained defiant, with its chief representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency declaring that his country would resist “pressure, resolutions, sanction(s) and threat of military attack.”
The resolution – and the resulting vote of the IAEA’s 35-nation decision-making board – were significant on several counts.
The resolution was endorsed by six world powers – the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – reflecting a rare measure of unity on Iran. Moscow and Beijing have acted as a traditional drag on efforts to punish Iran for its nuclear defiance, either preventing new Security Council sanctions or watering down their potency.
They did not formally endorse the last IAEA resolution in 2006, which referred Iran to the Security Council, starting the process that has resulted in three sets of sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Their backing for the document at the Vienna meeting thus reflected broad international disenchantment with Tehran.
It also appeared to signal possible support for any new Western push for a fourth set of UN sanctions, should Tehran continue shunning international overtures meant to reach agreements that reduce concerns about its nuclear ambitions.
Strong backing for the resolution at the meeting was also notable. Only three nations – Cuba, Venezuela and Malaysia – voted against the document, with five abstentions and one member absent.
That meant even most non-aligned IAEA board members abandoned Tehran, despite their traditional backing of the Islamic Republic. Iran argues that attacks on its nuclear program are an assault on the rights of developing nations to create their own peaceful nuclear energy network. The United States and other nations believe Iran’s nuclear program has the goal of creating nuclear weapons.
The IAEA resolution criticized Iran for defying a UN Security Council ban on uranium enrichment – the source of both nuclear fuel and the fissile core of warheads.
It also censured Iran for secretly building a uranium enrichment facility and demanded that it immediately suspend further construction. It noted that IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei cannot confirm that Tehran’s nuclear program is exclusively geared toward peaceful uses, and expressed “serious concern” that Iranian stonewalling of an IAEA probe means “the possibility of military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program” cannot be excluded.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s chief delegate to the IAEA, shrugged off the vote.
“Neither resolutions of the board of governors nor those of the United Nations Security Council … neither sanctions nor the treat of military attacks, can interrupt peaceful nuclear activities in Iran, even a second,” he told the closed meeting, in remarks made available to reporters
Why ‘Chinusa’, Chipak will rule the world & Chindia failed–An Indian perspective. In a rapidly changing world, Delhi is getting increasingly isolated. Delhi itself is under pressure becuase of the 123 Nuclear deal. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had high hopes of the nuclear deal being ratified in Washington. No such luck. President Obama refused to “finalize” the deal. PM Singhs US trip abject Failure: Nuke deal not finalized. India jilted The Indo-US romance is on the rocky road of difficulties. The pageant & the thud of the jilt–that ended the romance: New rocky road in Indo-US relations. It is now increasingly obvious that Bharat has fallen to the 3rd tier of regional powers behind Japan, Korea and China. Why ‘Chinusa’, Chipak will rule the world & Chindia failed–An Indian perspective The future will increasingly be Chinese and Beijing has surrounded Delhi with allies in Pakistan, Nepal, Lanka, and Burma. Iran will increasingly move towards the Russian-Chinese camps.
”In a nutshell, Singh got a nice state ceremony, China got respect as an equal and Pakistan has got billions of dollars of additional US aid,” said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. ”India will have to be satisfied with the sumptuous dinner.”
While we [India] were deluding ourselves with Chindia (that China and India will call the shots in the future) and hetting paranoid about Chi-Pak (China and Pakistan are encircling India from two sides), US and China forged a new relationship. And the basis of this relationship is: that they will have their spheres of influence – east, south east and south Asia and Africa for China; and Europe and Latin America for the US. So, it was not just a coincidence that Obama gave China the role of monitor in South Asia. Shobhan Saxena Times of India
Strategically India and the US are growing apart–Great Delhi supporter and Indophile–Stephen Cohen
Why ‘Chinusa’, Chipak will rule the world & Chindia failed–An Indian prespective
Singh failed in the main objective of his visit – to ”operationalise” the nuclear deal concluded in the Bush era. While Obama pledged to ”fully implement” the agreement, potentially crucial details of nuclear technology transfers to India have not been finalised. Matt Wade Herald Correspondent SMH Australia
Obama rebuffs PM Singh–eulogizes Pakistan as important ally
So, what’s in store for India? The only option available to India is junior partnership with both US and China. We can only have a buyer-seller ties with them. They sell and we buy. They sell their nuclear reactors and fighter jets and bankrupt companies to us and we save their economy with our hard cash. It’s the same situation with China. Shobhan Saxena Times of India
Obama rebuffs PM Singh–eulogizes Pakistan as important ally
“It seemed to suggest that India had simply fallen between two stools – Pakistan and China were urgent priorities for different reasons,” Editorial in the Indian Express newspaper Monday, November 23rd, 2009.
We may aspire to a seat at the high table of world power but China is already sitting at the head of the table along with the United States,”…”It has enough IOUs in its pocket to stop anyone from pushing it around. We also are a billion-strong nation, a democracy to boot and growing economically at a still impressive rate given the global conditions. But, realistically speaking, we are a second or perhaps third tier force in the eyes of the United States.” Journalist Gautam Adhikari in the Times of India Monday.
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