Will not accept US sanctions on Iran, says India

INDO-US TALKS

'No Drastic Cut In Oil Imports From Tehran'

New Delhi: India will seek a briefing from US authorities on the P5+1 dialogue with Iran when foreign minister S M Krishna meets his counterpart Hillary Clinton in the third Indo-US strategic dialogue next week. 
    Admitting that Iran was going to be one of the most significant regional issues to be discussed, government sources said that Krishna will 
reiterate before American authorities that India is not going to accept any unilateral sanction against Tehran. 
    The dialogue, which will be co-chaired by Krishna and Clinton, takes place days before the US and EU sanctions against Iran come into effect. The next round of P5+1 dialogue with Iran to find a diplomatic solution to Iran's vexed nuclear issue will take place on June 18 and 19. 
    "We will like to know from the US about these talks," said a source, adding that India will also tell the US that it is not going to drastically cut its oil import from that country even as it diversifies its sources. Wary of China, US set for strategic talks with India 
Washington: The audience at the Carnegie Endowment event on US-India relations ahead of the strategic dialogue spilled out into an overflow room on Thursday. 
    A key state department official working on the nuts and bolts of the relationship outlined the energy and intensity of the engagement between the two sides. "We are not even into June and already five US cabinet officials have visited India this year," gushed deputy assistant secretary of state Alyssa Ayres, reeling off the names of secretary of state Hillary Clinton, defence secretary Leon Panetta, commerce secretary John Bryson, health secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and treasury secretary Tim Geithner (upcoming) who have been Delhi-bound in recent weeks. 
    India is set to reciprocate those visits over the next week during and around the third US-India Strategic Dialogue (SD) centered on external affairs minister S M Krishna's engagement with his counterpart Hillary Clinton. Human resources minister Kapil Sibal, science and technology minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, and man-for-all-seasons Sam Pitroda will back him in an endeavor that has resulted in incremental increase in the strength and potency of USIndia ties after a giant leap during the Bush presidency. 
    Minutes before Ayres launched into a checklist of the items on the agenda for the dialogue her boss Robert Blake had left the room after another expansive speech on US-India ties in which he refuted recent narratives suggesting the relationship had been oversold, and insisted the partnership is much more than a quest for the next big thing. But the growing sense here is that New Delhi is leery of the biggest thing that the US is seeking — an alliance of the kind it has with countries like Japan and South Korea. 
    Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta were both voluble about a more assertive Indian role in the region, both in East Asia and in Afghanistan. But whether it is an outcome of strategic timidity or diplomatic prudence, New Delhi is seen as being very circumspect in its response. 
    If US officials are miffed about Indian reticence, they are not showing it. They also insist that their courtship of India, expressions of greater presence in Pacific, and efforts to involve India in East Asia are not aimed at containing China. In fact, the US is pressing for a trilateral dialogue process with India and China. ''India is going to maintain strategic autonomy, as we will as well,'' Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake said.

BUSY DAYS AHEAD: S M Krishna with Hillary Clinton