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India backs Iran nuclear energy rights

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao says the New Delhi government supports Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy.

“India’s stand on the Iran nuclear issue has been consistent,” Nirupama Rao said at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) conference on India’s relations with the Persian Gulf littoral states.

“We support the right of all states, including Iran, to peaceful uses of nuclear energy consistent with their international obligations,” The Times of India quoted her as saying.

Nearly 100 delegates from India and the Persian Gulf region are participating in the two-day conference, inaugurated Saturday by Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari.

In a politically-motivated move, the US accused Iran of developing a military nuclear program and used this pretext to pressure the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran’s financial and military sectors in June.

Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted the charges, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran has a right to use peaceful nuclear technology.

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