Nearly 20 years after voting against India Iran’s nuclear program For the first time, Delhi’s careful balance act – on one side between Israel and America and Iran on the other side – has come into the game.
Whereas India has always tried to harass diplomatic Its discomfort on Iran with walk, nuclear weapons was then clear. On September 24, 2005, India voted with 21 other countries on the resolution of the International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA) (Gov/2005/77), which found Iran in non-compliance with its safety measures.
It was seen as a departure from the past, as India had voted against Iran with the US and the Western Block, which was in its extended neighborhood and with which it has a historical and decent relationship.
This was the time when India started talking to its agreement with the US on its civil nuclear program, and bowed to Delhi to vote against Washington Tehran. Delhi, who was eager to portray its responsible behavior as an atomic power, went with the idea that voting against Iran’s nuclear program would burn its reputation.
However, Sankalp did not immediately refer to the matter to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and India was one of the countries that urged the western blocks of European countries-UK, France and Germany (EU-3)-to keep the issue in IAEA.
According to Indian officials, India voted for the proposal of the time that was against the majority of NAM members, who felt bound to do so after putting pressure on the European Union -3 to release the reference to the immediate referral of ANSC.
Months later, on 4 February 2006, India again biased with the US, when the IAEA Board of Governors voted to refer to Iran’s non-transportation to the UNSC.
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“As a signator for NPT, Iran has the legal right to develop peaceful uses of nuclear power in accordance with its international commitments and obligations … (but) It is in the context of safety measures to exercise these rights on Iran that it is voluntarily accepted in its nuclear program under IAAA,”
Over the years, as India interacted with the US on the nuclear deal, Delhi came out of pressure to vote against Tehran as the issue went to the UNSC. Sources said that once the matter went to UNSC, India did not have to take any position on Iran’s nuclear program between 2007 and 2024.
In the middle, the US administration under President Barack Obama interacted with Iran in 2015 on the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Action Plan) -which was a deal between P -5+1 and Iran. US President Donald Trump moved out of JCPOA in 2017, and Iran’s nuclear program once again came under investigation.
India was forced to prevent oil imports from Iran, although its Chabahar port project development was going on. However, it did not need to take any firm position against Iran’s nuclear program, which changed last year when the US was brought into a resolution against Iran.
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In June 2024, India avoided Iran by one vote in IAEA. The objective of the vote initiated by the US was to censors for its nuclear program. While Sankalp passed, 19 out of 35 board members voted to censor Iran, India was one of the 16 countries that avoided. The decision reflected India’s balance between its intensive defense and safety relations with Israel and its historical relations with Iran.
In September 2024, India again stopped voting on a proposal at the IAEA Board of Governors, which censors Iran to a lack of cooperation with the agency’s investigation into its nuclear program. The resolution brought by the US by France, UK and Germany (E3), followed an IAEA report after an IAEA report on Iran’s enlarged uranium promotion.
This year too, India also strongly criticized Iran’s nuclear program on the proposal of IAEA Board of Governors and announced this in violation of comprehensive security measures of 1974. This time, India’s decision to refrain from the vote reflected its balanced stance-Tehran recognized Iran’s right to pursue a peaceful nuclear power program, asking Tehran to follow his non-dissemination commitments.
While changes, from being against voting, marks Delhi’s shifting positions as the geopolitical alignment has changed, India’s concern about the Iranian nuclear program was clear.
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