US expects India to enforce UN sanctions against Iran

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jul 13 (PTI) The US says its expects India to
enforce UN sanctions against Iran but left it to that country
to decide on steps to "convince" the Persian Gulf state to
abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The Obama Administration also said Iran's controversial
atomic programme cannot be a situation of "business as usual"
since it is about the danger of a nuclear arms race in the
Middle East, which will have its implications outside the
Middle East including India.
"From our standpoint and what we have made clear in our
conversations with many countries, is that this (Iran pursuing
the path of nuclear weapons programme) cannot be a situation
of business as usual," State Department spokesman P J
Crowley told reporters.
"This is about the future of the world. This is about
the danger of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, which
will affect countries outside of the region, including India.
So everyone has a responsibility to do what each
country can to convince Iran to change its present course,"
the State Department spokesman P J Crowley said
When asked about the recently held India-Iran Joint
Commission in New Delhi last week, "I'll leave it to India to
describe what steps it is going to take."
To a query on specific comments made by Indian Foreign
Secretary Nirupama Rao about the latest round of US
sanctions against Iran, Crowley said he is not familiar with
those particular comments. Rao had said such "unilateral
sanctions" can have "a direct and adverse impact" on India's
energy security,
But Crowley said, "Every country obviously pursues its
own self-interest of its citizens. We understand that. By the
same token, all countries have international obligations to
fully respect and to heed the sanctions that were passed by
the Security Council last month."
"We are taking our own steps to fully implement those
sanctions and to take additional steps within our own laws.
And we would expect all countries to respect and commit
themselves to undertake and to enforce the sanctions that have
been passed by the UN Security Council," Crowley said.
"We have ongoing concerns about the nature of Iran's
nuclear programme. There are many questions that we have that
have gone unanswered.
"You even have today concerns expressed by (Russian)
President (Dmitry) Medvedev, which we share, about Iran
continuing to move closer to having a breakout nuclear
capability.
It is up to Iran to come forward and engage the IAEA and
the international community constructively. Iran has failed to
do that," he said.
The State Department spokesman said US is moving forward
both to implement international sanctions and to evaluate how
they can take additional national measures that puts pressure
on the Iranian Government to come forward and engage
constructively. PTI