India will move at the right time

With just two days to go for the IAEA meeting, India is reviewing its stand.

India is "reviewing" its position over Iran's nuclear programme and will take a view on the controversial issue at the right time, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday.

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"There are 48 hours to go (for the IAEA meeting in Vienna)," Mukherjee told reporters after inaugurating a defence exhibition in New Delhi.

"We are reviewing the situation. We will articulate our position at the appropriate time," he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to meet the Left parties on Tuesday evening to discuss the Iran issue.

Meanwhile, official sources indicated that India was likely to vote against Iran after Russia, China supported the referral of Iran to the UN Security Council.

However, India is still hoping that a vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting can be averted.

India had earlier backed Russia's compromise formula on Iran's uranium enrichment.

India voted against Iran in November at the IAEA meeting in Vienna following Western complaints that Tehran was not adhering to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

Led by the US, the West wanted to refer Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council but agreed to India's request to give more time to diplomatic efforts to resolve the impasse.

On Monday, the United States and Europe agreed with Russia and China on a compromise proposal to report Iran to the UN Security Council.

However, any UN action on Iran has been put off until at least March.

The joint statement issued on Monday by six world powers-- US, Britain, Russia, France, China and Germany-- said the countries agreed that the UN nuclear watchdog "should report to the Security Council its decision on the steps required of Iran."

But they also "agreed that the Security Council should await the (IAEA's) report to the March meeting of the IAEA board... Before deciding to take action to reinforce the authority of the IAEA process," the statement said.

A senior US State Department official said that for the first time in the history of the Iranian nuclear crisis, all five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- are sending exactly the same message to Iran.

Russia has in the past opposed taking Iran to the Security Council, as it sought a diplomatic solution to present its extensive trade and security interests in Iran.

"This has never happened in the history of the Iranian crisis," the official said of the P-5 unity.

He said the US goal was to get the Iranian nuclear dossier to the Security Council, which has enforcement powers unlike the IAEA.