Hours before the International Atomic Energy Agency meets to decide on whether or not Iran should be referred to the United Nations Security Council, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Parliament that his government will monitor the Iran issue with the seriousness that it merits.
Complete Coverage: The Iran Vote & After
Making a statement in both houses of Parliament on Monday, Dr Singh said, "I respect the views voiced by the honourable members on this important issue and I thank them for contributing to the debate in this august House."
He said Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed had visited Tehran and met President Ahmadinijad as well as several ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
"Ahamed emphasised upon our desire to remain engaged with Iran on all issues of mutual interest. Our desire to deepen the friendly and productive ties between the two countries was fully reciprocated," Dr Singh said.
The prime minister asserted that his government will pay attention to India's relationship with Iran. "We need to maintain peace and stability in the Gulf region while safeguarding our own security," he said.
"I reiterate that members can be rest assured that we will take into account the sentiments expressed in Parliament while deciding upon the vote in Vienna," he added.
The prime minister said there can be no two opinions that government should not take pre-determined positions or positions at the behest of other nations.
The statement came in the wake of Gurudas Dasgupta of the Communist Party of India, Subrata Bose of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Kharbala Swain of the Bharatiya Janata Party contending in the Lok Sabha that foreign policy should be guided by national interests and not based on the position of other countries.
"No one can dispute that it is the government's duty to take a position on such matters after a dispassionate examination of facts, keeping in mind our national interests," Dr Singh said.
Noting that there had been discussions between Iran and Russia in the efforts to explore various options, Dr Singh, who spoke to President Vladimir Putin on Saturday night, said, "We do not favour confrontation, rhetoric or coercive measures as these only exacerbate tensions in the region and beyond."
"India has consistently stated that all sides must work to find mutually acceptable compromise solutions, and that confrontation should be avoided at all costs. For this to be possible, time must be given for diplomacy to work," he said.
"I think there is consensus in Parliament and in our country that confrontation is not in the interests of India or of our region," Dr Singh added.
Recapitulating essential facts of the issue, Dr Singh said Iran had the legal right to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy, but it also has certain obligations and responsibilities, based on the Safeguards Agreement, which it voluntarily undertook with the IAEA.
He said it was in recognition of the existence of several unanswered questions that Iran agreed to start the process of assisting IAEA with investigations into several past activities. An important part of this process was the voluntary suspension by Iran of all enrichment and reprocessing activity in November, 2004.
However, since last August, Iran has renewed production of Uranium Hexafluoride, and since then, of uranium enrichment, he said, noting that the unresolved question regarding centrifuge imports and designs to make uranium metallic hemispheres remained.
"The origin of such procurement is an issue of direct concern for us," he contended, adding, "Under these circumstances, our position was based on these facts, which emerged from an objective investigation by the IAEA, and through information disclosed by Iran itself."
With PTI inputs