New Delhi
9 April 2010
Will the next tranche of sanctions on Iran run into BRIC wall? The mood in New Delhi is
one of circumspection ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meetings next week
with the leaders from Russia, China and Brazil, which together make up the BRIC group
of fast-growing economies in the world.
India has opposed sanctions on Iran that would hurt the common people of that country;
it prefers dialogue so that the situation does not get complicated further. Russia, China
and Brazil have voiced reservations, too.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had said during her visit to the US in March that
"sanctions that target Iranian people and cause difficulties to the ordinary man, woman
and child would not be conducive to a resolution" of the Iranian nuclear issue.
"We do not want more instability in that region. Iran is very much a part of our region.
Iran for instance has a very important role to play in the developing situation in
Afghanistan and we of course have strong bilateral ties with Iran," Ms Rao had noted.
Parbati Sen Vyas, secretary (economic relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said
here that for the first time, Iran will be a "focussed agenda item" of the BRIC summit. She
also noted that there were a "lot of similarities and commonalities" among the BRIC
countries on various global issues.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is expected to visit Iran soon, has
said that sanctions could isolate Iran so much that tensions would spiral out of control.
After meeting with US President Barack Obama in Prague earlier this week, Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev spoke about limits to his support for sanctions on Iran, even
as the US seeks to ramp up negotiations at the UN for what it calls "smart and strong"
sanctions.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiang Yu has said that Beijing hopes relevant
parties will step up diplomatic efforts, take a more pragmatic and proactive approach to
seek proper settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue.
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