Enemy or friend?

Is India an ally or enemy-sympathisizer? The US doesn’t seem to know:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has downplayed concerns about India’s links with Iran as she lobbies Congress to support the controversial nuclear cooperation agreement struck between India and the United States last month.

India has already rejected as “completely misplaced” any suggestion of a military training link with Iran.

But some U.S. lawmakers have raised questions about India’s commercial and military relations with Iran, which faces possible sanctions after the U.N. Security Council issued a statement on March 29 demanding that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program.

In a Senate hearing Wednesday on Washington’s civilian nuclear deal with New Delhi, Rice said an assertion that India has been training Iranian sailors is “not right.”

Rice said two Iranian warships had simply paid a port call on the southern Indian city of Kochi in March, and no military training was involved.

The Australian government is under pressure to sell uranium to India. What is the Howard government’s position on India’s relationship with Iran?

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