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Consequences of Iran stand will be serious: CPI(M)

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday warned the United Progressive Alliance Government that the consequences of its stand on the Iran nuclear issue would be serious. Due to "capitulation to the United States," India now stood with the "bellicose, illegal stand" of the Bush administration, it said.

On the decision of the International Atomic Energy Agency board meeting to shift the Iran issue to the U.N. Security Council, the Polit Bureau said the matter was now outside the IAEA's ambit.

The United States had made it clear that it expected a quick decision in the Security Council on how to proceed against Iran. It was instrumental in rejecting a Russian proposal that would have resolved the issue by allowing a small amount of enrichment of fuel for research purposes, which would have been under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.

Observing that "disturbingly" the U.S. was escalating the confrontation with Iran, the party said U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told a Congressional committee that "it's going to be incumbent upon our allies around the world and interested countries to show that they are willing to act, should the words and resolutions of the United Nations not suffice."

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