New Delhi
16 February 2007
An American official has ratcheted up the rhetoric against the Iran-
Pakistan-India gas pipeline and asked India to look for alternative energy relationships.
"If you are looking for energy relationships, there are alternatives. Certainly in South
Asia a very good alternative would be Kazakhstan," United States Undersecretary of
State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns has said.
"We have had talks with the Pakistani government, the Indian government, a variety of
governments around the world, and our advice is that Iran is a depreciating asset in the
world and that doing business with Iran is somewhat risky. That was our advice a year
before Iran fell under Chapter VII sanctions, and now they do, and those sanctions will
likely get more severe as we go along if Iran continues on its nuclear course," Burns on
Wednesday said at an interaction organised by The Brookings Institution.
Doing some crystal ball gazing, the official said the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) report to be presented to the United Nations Security Council on February 21 will
conclude that Iran is not complying with the terms of Resolution 1737.
"The obvious answer will be no, because we know that Iran has kicked out some of the
IAEA inspectors, particularly, by the way, inspectors from our countries, the countries of
the six that made this proposal, which is curious and interesting. ElBaradei will make
that report, and then I think those of us on the Security Council will have to entertain the
possibility of a second Security Council resolution that will gradually increase the
pressure on Iran", Burns observed.
The official maintained that Washington will stay the course on the Iran nuclear issue.
"Our policy is to deny Iran a nuclear weapons capability .... We are not going to give up.
We are convinced that sooner or later the cost to Iran of its isolation are going to be so
profoundly important to them, destructive to their economic potential, that they are going
to have to come to the negotiating table."
However, Burns insisted that Washington will want to "end the estrangement" between
"the American people and the Iranian people". He said, "[If] we cannot make a
breakthrough in the medium term, and I think we probably will not be able to in official
relations with the Iranian government, surely we can work to try to bring people together
and to try to bring the societies together so that we understand each other better."
He added that Washington would want to "exhaust the diplomatic possibilities" in the
time available between now and the time Iran can develop nuclear capabilities. "I do not
believe a conflict with Iran is inevitable, it is certainly not desirable, and we are trying to
give every possible signal we can [that] a diplomatic solution to the nuclear problem and
all the other problems that I have mentioned is possible," he said.
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