Iran's comparison with India outrageous: US

US says that Iran should not compare its nuclear plans with India as it has crossed red lines it shouldn't have.

The US termed Iran's comparison of its nuclear programme with India as outrageous and said that Tehran will have to face the penalty of crossing international red lines.

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Visiting US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said that Iran's nuclear issue should be referred to the UN Security Council. India, on the other hand, maintained that it would prefer that the matter be resolved within the purview of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"The US feels that there should be a vote on Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting on February 2 and that the matter should be referred to the UNSC," Burns said at a joint press conference with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran after their two-day talks on various issues, including that of the Iran crisis.

Iran has "crossed so many international red lines and it should know that it will have to pay a penalty," he said.

Burns said that Russia, China and the EU-3, Germany, UK and France, also shared the view that Iran had "crossed the line it should not have crossed", although the views of all these countries were not identical to that of the US on the issue.