US asks India to 'diminish' economic ties with Iran

The US tonight asked India to "diminish" its economic relations with "nuclear outlaw" Iran and join the international community in dealing with "one of the most difficult security problems" facing the world.

"We hope that India, as well as all other states, China, Russia, France, Britain and Japan, will diminish their economic relations with Iran," US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said.

Talking to TV channels over phone from Washington, he said the US expected India to be part of the international community to "deal with one of the most difficult security problems we face internationally today."

Burns, who was talking to the channels on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, said Iran was a "nuclear outlaw" as it wanted to have nuclear weapons, which was "not in the interest of the international community".

The UN Security Council had already imposed two rounds of sanctions and "we are considering a third sanction resolution" against it, he said.

Emphasising that the Indo-US civil nuclear deal would be "good for rest of the world", Burns said Washington would be a "very good supporter" of New Delhi at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Disagreeing with the view that China could be a stumbling block, he said the US had already started working with governments around the world, including China, to convince them that the agreement with India was a step forward.