Left’s note on nukes for Ahmadinejad highly enriched with rhetoric, low on fact

Consider these:

• Left: Iran has a principled position which has brought to fore the “dormant issue of the discriminatory regime within the NPT’’. India too has held that NPT is discriminatory. Unfair to impose additional conditionalities on Iran.

Fact: There is no mention that it was Iran’s voluntary decision to sign the NPT. It did not take a principled position like India but has called for universalisation of the NPT regime at various points.

• Left: Iran is not weaponising

Fact: IAEA Director General Mohamed El-Baradei while saying there is no diversion of all declared nuclear material by Iran, adds there is still doubt over whether Iran has undeclared nuclear material. ‘‘The agency is not in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran,’’ he states asking for more time.

• As for India, it has welcomed Iran’s claims to this effect and has acknowledged the same in Vienna.

• Left: No basis for IAEA resolution, especially when there is no evidence of Iran weaponising.

• Fact: This misses the point. IAEA DG raised two specific issues in his report—origin of low and high enriched uranium particle contamination found in various locations and the extent of Iran’s effort to import, manufacture and use centrifuges of P-1 and P-2 designs. Both issues are interlinked and IAEA has sought more information, but ElBaradei notes that the additional information has not yet been provided. He says Iran’s full transparency is ‘‘indispensible’’ and ‘‘overdue’’.

• It is important to note here that ElBaradei had differed with the US on its assessment of WMDs in Iraq. The US opposed his re-appointment as DG. Similarly, France and Germany (part of the EU-3) were opposed to the US action in Iraq.

• Left: India has in the past withstood pressure and fostered close ties with Iran. Friendship with Iran is ‘‘cornerstone of India’s neighbourhood policy. Iran has responded by taking favourable positions in the OIC on the Kashmir issue. It is a crucial partner in improving India’s energy security.

• Iran’s representative at IAEA admitted that the only evidence of contamination was from an ‘‘outside source’’. The finger is pointed at Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan. India says it would want this investigated as it is a case of clandestine proliferation in its neighbourhood with supply originating from Pakistan.

• Iran has not always held a favourable view on the Kashmir issue in the OIC. There is no record of it as all that comes out is a resolution, which is always against India. Tehran has separately never clarified what it said in the OIC. On other crucial issues like UNSC membership, Tehran has not outrightly favoured India and, in fact, says expansion will create new centres of privilege.

• India has always cooperated with Iran on economic issues, including energy. And while the Left may perceive a threat, Tehran has gone out of its way to assure New Delhi that all deals including the LPG sale are on course.

• Left: India did not take Iran into confidence about its vote. It consistently assured Iran that matter will be settled within the IAEA and supported its right to pursue a peaceful nuclear programme.

• India was always working for a consensus. It was Left’s blue-eyed Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela that forced the issue resulting in a vote. China and Russia too did not vote in Iran’s favour and abstained. India was part of the efforts to ensure that the resolution is amended to defer a reference to the UNSC.

• Left: India should take the position that matter be resolved through negotiations, that Iran has the right to a peaceful nuclear programme and it must abide by its treaty obligations. New Delhi must press for settlement of issue within the IAEA framework and must abstain, if pushed to vote.

• All these aspects are already included in the Indian position. “Iran has the inalienable right to puruse a peaceful nuclear programme and we must respect that,’’ India recorded in Vienna. But the larger issue now for Delhi is to unravel the A Q Khan network by calling for proper investigation of not just recepient states, but also the suppliers.