Washington: Asserting that Iran`s nuclear
programme would have its implications outside the Middle East
including India, US has hoped that New Delhi would take steps
not only to implement UN sanctions but would also convince
Tehran to leave its path towards possessing nuclear weapons.
"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, said.
"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," Crowley
said.
"I`ll leave it to India to describe what steps it is
going to take," the State Department spokesman said when asked
about the recently held India-Iran Joint Commission in New
Delhi last week.
When asked about specific comments made by Foreign
Secretary, Nirupama Rao, about the latest round of US
sanctions against Iran, Crowley said he is not familiar with
those particular comments.
"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," he said.
"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
