Talk of war’ not a solution to Iran issue: India

Hoping for a peaceful resolution of the Iranian crisis, the top Indian diplomat in the US has cautioned the international community that talk of war would not help a solution and would only erode global cohesion.

“The talk of war will not help a solution and only erodes global cohesion,” Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao said in her remarks on ‘Role of India in the changing landscape in the 21st Century’, in Boston on Wednesday.

Rao said as a near neighbor, and its only surface access to Central Asia and Afghanistan, engagement with Iran is of relevance and meaning to India.

“And, even as our imports of Iranian crude continue to decline and are currently under 10 percent of our overall imports, it does constitute a significant share of our oil imports,” she said.

“We do believe that our relationship with Iran is neither inconsistent with our non-proliferation objectives, nor is it in contradiction with the relationships that we have with our friends in West Asia or with the United States,” Rao said.

Referring to the forthcoming India-US Strategic Dialogue later this year, Rao said it would be their joint endeavor to build on this foundation, consolidate on the work that had already been done and to implement the initiatives that have been agreed upon to qualitatively improve the relationship.

“Indeed in India, we attach importance to our strategic partnership with the US both for advancing global peace, stability and progress as well as in the pursuit of India’s national development goals including promoting better education opportunities, improving agriculture productivity, creating a world class infrastructure and development of sustainable energy sources,” she said.