India-Iran ties set to sour US mood
The US' discomfort with India-Iran ties is set to deepen in the coming months as the engagement between the two Asian countries is all set to be a very visible affair.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The US' discomfort with India-Iran ties, reinforced by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad upcoming visit, is set to deepen in the coming months as the engagement between the two Asian countries is all set to be a very visible affair.
Though the big ticket event is the visit of the Iranian president to India on April 29, there are a number of other high-level interactions between the two countries that are bound to set tongues wagging in the US which has put India���s ties with Iran under a microscope.
Iranian vice-president Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei is leading a delegation to India for a spot of cultural bonding. He will be in India for a Iranian cultural festival that starts on April 30 with participation from Iranian artisans, musicians, poets and others. This soft diplomacy initiative comes a day after the visit of the Iranian president whose stopover is being watched closely by the Left parties and the US for exactly the opposite reasons.
The Iranian president���s visit is set to deepen ties between India and Iran with discussions set to cover a number of sectors from energy���the slow moving Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project to bilateral investment to civilian nuclear energy. Even though India doesn���t want to see another nuclear entity in the neighbourhood, India is likely to reiterate that Iran has the right to peaceful uses of civilian nuclear energy.
A couple of months later external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee will travel to Iran for the India-Iran joint commission meeting in July. And the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) foreign minister���s meeting is also scheduled to take place in Tehran around the same time. All these meetings, particularly the Iranian president���s visit and the NAM meeting are likely to increase the discomfort of the US, which has been trying unsuccessfully to internationally isolate Iran.
Due to its failure to isolate Iran, the US has also been critical about the NAM initiative which US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice calling the movement outdated and out of sync with modern realities. She had further indicated that India should pay more attention to Indo-US ties instead of focusing on NAM. All members of NAM have supported Iran���s right to pursue peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Though the big ticket event is the visit of the Iranian president to India on April 29, there are a number of other high-level interactions between the two countries that are bound to set tongues wagging in the US which has put India���s ties with Iran under a microscope.
Iranian vice-president Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei is leading a delegation to India for a spot of cultural bonding. He will be in India for a Iranian cultural festival that starts on April 30 with participation from Iranian artisans, musicians, poets and others. This soft diplomacy initiative comes a day after the visit of the Iranian president whose stopover is being watched closely by the Left parties and the US for exactly the opposite reasons.
The Iranian president���s visit is set to deepen ties between India and Iran with discussions set to cover a number of sectors from energy���the slow moving Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project to bilateral investment to civilian nuclear energy. Even though India doesn���t want to see another nuclear entity in the neighbourhood, India is likely to reiterate that Iran has the right to peaceful uses of civilian nuclear energy.
A couple of months later external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee will travel to Iran for the India-Iran joint commission meeting in July. And the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) foreign minister���s meeting is also scheduled to take place in Tehran around the same time. All these meetings, particularly the Iranian president���s visit and the NAM meeting are likely to increase the discomfort of the US, which has been trying unsuccessfully to internationally isolate Iran.
Due to its failure to isolate Iran, the US has also been critical about the NAM initiative which US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice calling the movement outdated and out of sync with modern realities. She had further indicated that India should pay more attention to Indo-US ties instead of focusing on NAM. All members of NAM have supported Iran���s right to pursue peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
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