Indian ambassador says Iran vote made in spite of US

The Hindu:

Intense US pressure didn't prompt India to support a resolution that has placed Iran on the verge of referral to the U.N. Security Council, India's ambassador to the United States said. In fact, he said, it almost had the opposite effect.

India ended up voting on Saturday in favour of the US-supported resolution by the U.N. atomic watchdog agency that ordered Iran to suspend its nuclear programs.

But in an interview with The Associated Press, Ambassador Ronen Sen said India's concern that it might appear to be buckling under U.S. pressure was "a huge stumbling block in making the decision, which would have happened anyway." READ MORE

Top U.S. officials had repeatedly urged India to support referring Iran to the Security Council, the United Nations' top decision-making body.

Denouncing what he considered reluctance on India's part in the weeks leading up to the vote, Rep. Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said India could not expect Congress to support a deal extending U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation if India "totally disregards our interests" on the Iran resolution.

Sen, however, said U.S. pressure actually made it harder for India to go through with a vote it always had intended to cast.

"The decision that we took was not because of what was said, at congressional hearings or elsewhere - it was in spite of that," Sen said. "No government can be seen to be acting under pressure. I think we did the right thing, but it becomes much more difficult if it is seen to be carried out under duress."