US-India nuclear deal under Iran gun

WASHINGTON: India is under continuing pressure from Washington to back a Security Council referral of Iran's nuclear transgressions, with the Bush administration signaling that any shirking on the issue will inhibit it from fulfilling its part of US-India nuclear deal. The Iran matter figured once again in talks between External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in New York on Monday, even as Washington made it clear that a Security Council referral was inevitable. A senior Bush administration official told TNN that in the US judgment is that there is now a statutory requirement to report Iran to the Security Council, particularly after Iranian President's Mahmoud Ahmedinijad's tough speech at the UN on Saturday. Washington considers support from India, which is on the 35-member board of governors at the IAEA, crucial in getting a sizeable majority for its proposal to refer the matter to the Security Council for positive punitive action against Iran.