India Under New Pressure on Iran

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As the Iran issue threatens to turn critical, New Delhi is faced with a serious challenge from its policy of promoting a "strategic partnership" with Washington. Efforts are on to push Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government to play a significant support role in case the Pentagon unleashes another "pre-emptive" war in the Middle East.

India had been under pressure to play such a role in the first "pre-emptive" war as well. Massive popular protests, however, had stopped former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government from sending troops to Iraq and, indeed, led to a Parliamentary resolution opposing the aggression on that country. The Singh government, on the other hand, has already paved the way for a pro-Washington role on Iran - not only as a strategic partner, but also as a semi-recognized member of the "nuclear club."

The latest pressure has come in the form of a demand for New Delhi signing a US-India Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), and amid discussion for quite a while, without any further delay. On February 27, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, one of the many American emissaries to descend on New Delhi over the recent period, reportedly pressed for early conclusion of the LSA, under which the two countries would provide logistic support to each other's military. New Delhi, according to official accounts, is said to have asked for "more time to consider all aspects of the matter."

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