Tuesday, January 31 2006 10:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Observing that India will take a decision 'as a sovereign country' on how it votes on the issue of referring Iran to the UN Security Council, the US has said it was closely engaged with New Delhi about shared concerns regarding Tehran's nuclear programme.

"India will decide as a sovereign country and will make a decision--its own decision on how it votes on the (Iran) issue" at the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna on Thursday, State Department Acting Spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday (Jan 30,2006).

"We have been engaged with them closely and in a productive way about our shared concerns over Iran's nuclear programme", he added.

Asked whether India had notified Washington that it will not support Iran's referral to the Security Council, Ereli merely said, "Not that I'm aware of, but I think the Secretary (of State Condoleezza Rice) spoke to this extensively in London." Ereli's remarks came as Left parties asked the government to have David C Mulford recalled and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded an all-party meet on Indo-US ties over the controversial remarks by the US Ambassador to India on Iran issue and US-India civilian nuclear cooperation.

Accusing Mulford of directly interfering in India's internal affairs, senior Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) and CPI leaders said it was 'unbecoming of the Ambassador to comment on domestic affairs of India. Expressing serious concern over the American envoy's remarks on Iran vote and Indo-US nuclear deal, BJP asked the Centre to take all political parties into confidence on Indo-US ties by calling an all-party meeting.