India bids to avert vote on Iran at IAEA

Negotiations by top Indian officials are on to nudge events during the forthcoming International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting in Vienna towards a situation where no voting will be required.

Indian officials are meeting various western interlocutors to influence the wording of the resolution, to come up for discussion at the November 14 meeting, in such a way that a stand-off with Iran is prevented.

Officials acknowledge that this proactive diplomatic role played by New Delhi is a break from the past when "India just used to stand on the sidelines, equidistance from two contending positions".

They say past efforts""that saw India voting along with the US to punish Iran for reprocessing uranium""have shown results, despite the Left parties panning the last round of voting because it has turned India into a "lackey" of the US.

That Tehran has allowed IAEA inspectors to visit some of Iran's nuclear energy installations, and signals that it might suspend operations at its Isfahan facility, indicate that India's diplomatic efforts to bring Iran to the negotiating table, have shown some results.

India's single most important objective is to prevent the US from having its way and referring Iran to the UN Security Council for continuing its nuclear programme in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Officials say at the last round of meetings, too, India had prevailed upon the US to hold back and give India a chance to persuade Iran to see reason and refrain from developing its nuclear weapons programme.

Why is it so important to ensure Iran is not sanctioned by the UN? Because not only will India then be prevented from trading with Iran, but also, because of the shortfall in the world oil market, the prices of oil can soar $68 a barrel.

Iran provides India an important transit enclave into Central Asia and Afghanistan. This can too, be jeopardised and put a complete stop to India's diplomatic initiatives in Central Asia, exactly the objective Pakistan wants to achieve.

Denial of transit facilities to Afghanistan is not hurting India now, because it can enter Afghanistan through Iran. If that route is closed, so will India's access to Kabul, leaving Pakistan the sole player from South Asia to be working in the war-torn country's reconstruction efforts.

Officials say the Left will like India to emulate China and Venezuela that abstained in the last round of the IAEA vote. But the stakes for India are different. Abstention is an empty gesture because the West wants to be seen as teaching Iran a lesson and is in a majority. India cannot afford to make grand but meaningless gestures.

Although there is no clarity on what will happen in Vienna on November 24, there is no doubt that the vote will test the United Progressive Alliance's relations with the Left parties, which have warned the government not to go ahead with a vote that puts India in the same category as the US.

But officials are clear that if it is in India's national interest to vote along with the US to prevent Iran being referred to the UN Security Council, it will do so again.