Date: September 30th 2005

From: mw_mod <mw_mod@yahoo.com>; Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005

Lantos hails India's vote on Iran

http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/26aziz.htm?q=np&file=.htm

Aziz Haniffa in Washington DC | September 26, 2005 23:31 IST
Last Updated: September 26, 2005 23:52 IST

Congressman Tom Lantos, California Democrat, and the highest ranking
Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, has hailed
India's about-face in Vienna in aligning itself with the United
States and the European Union and voting to refer Iran to the United
Nations Security Council for alleged nuclear nonproliferation
violations.

Lantos had launched a blistering attack on India at the hearing on
the US-India nuclear cooperation agreement early this month where he
even ridiculed Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh
as 'dense' and warned that if India doesn't change its policy toward
Iran in sync with US policy, the relationship would 'go down the
tubes'

In a statement made available to rediff.com, Lantos said, "I am
pleased that New Delhi clearly heard the message that I and other
members have been emphatically trying to convey." He noted, "India's
support this past weekend and next November, when Iran should finally
be referred to the UN Security Council for action, will go a long way
to cementing our new partnership."

"These actions will certainly promote positive consideration in
Congress of the new US-India agreement to expand peaceful nuclear
cooperation between our two countries," he added.

India not worried by Lantos' remarks: Dr Singh
At the hearing earlier this month, Lantos, who was given wide
latitude by the chairman of the panel, Congressman Henry Hyde, to
speak for a long as he wanted, declared,"My concern does not relate
to the Administration. My concern relates to the insensitive thinking
that I see coming out of New Delhi."

He asserted that 'it is incomprehensible to me that people as
sophisticated and as knowledgeable as our Indian counterparts should
not be aware of how significant their position,vis-a-vis Iran is to
this Congress, and, I hope that this hearing will make them aware at
least tangentially that this may be destroying far more significant
relationships than they are having with Tehran unless they become
sensitive to our view on that subject.'

Lantos said, "Iran is the single most international threat. We face a
reckless Iranian government proceeding arrogantly with the
development of nuclear weapons."

"Only an imbecile would believe that they are developing a nuclear
program for peaceful purposes only and it is an insult to the
intelligence of Congress that they keep repeating this," he added.

India's vote on Iran not linked to the US
"But they do what they do, but to have the Indian Foreign Minister
with respect to his recent meeting with the Iranian to say they
really don't care what we think, shows the real denseness that
occasionally very intelligent people are burdened with," he had said.

Lantos said, "They are brilliant and they are dense. They are
brilliant,which is obvious, but they are simply dense because they
are incapable of comprehending that other countries have their
important concerns."

"My bottom line is that I do not oppose the Administration's policy
(toward India). I support it. But I believe the Administration will
have to make a maximum effort and we offer, at least some of us offer
our services to help you to make the Indians aware of the fact that
nothing will fly in this body unless they become as sensitive to
their concerns as we have been to theirs."

Lantos said he found the Indian Foreign Minister reported statement
in Iran 'sickening, literally sickening, this Stalinist rhetoric
which we don't accept from the Indian Foreign Minister. Singh is
reported to have said during his meeting with the new Iranian
president that India 'supports resolution of Iran's nuclear issue
within the IAEA framework but opposes sending the file to the UN
Security Council'.

Iran dominates IAEA conference
Singh is also reported to have lamented the inclination to infuse
injustice in international relations, reiterating that India's
relation with Iran is not predicated on positions and views
attributed to some goverments, which Lantos said was clearly a
reference to the US.

India Ambassador Ronen Sen told rediff.com at the time that as soon
as he read the transcript, he had called Singh and the latter had
denied he had every said anything Lantos attributed to him and had
described it as 'absolute nonsense'.

Lantos, at the hearing, had warned that 'this pattern of dealing with
us will not be productive for India and they have to be told this in
plain English that this great new opening, which I support, which we
all support, is predicated on reciprocity. In this case, they are not
only opposing our views, they are opposing the views of the Brits,
and the French and the Germans.'

Iran, US: India's Catch 22
He said if India persists in this, 'this great dream of a new
relationship will go down the tubes', and reiterated that if New
Delhi does not support Washington's efforts to ostracise Iran, 'the
goodwill will dissipate'.

"They will pay a heavy price for a total disregard of US concerns vis-
a-vis Iran. It just will not fly in this body and they need to be
told that in plain English, not in diplomatic English and I know
there are people in this room who will carry this message," he added.


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