When Nicholas Sarkozy, the French president, talked about going to war to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, ElBaradei dismissed it as just ‘hype’.

Before you jump to the conclusion that ElBaradei is some kind of an ‘anti-imperialist’ crusader and a near victim of US hegemony, think again. In July 2005, when President George W. Bush signed the declaration on the civilian nuclear initiative with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ElBaradei was among the first international leaders to welcome it.

Coming from the very heart of the global non-proliferation system, the IAEA, ElBaradei’s enthusiasm has been critical in mobilising international support for the Indo-US nuclear deal. For ElBaradei, it was not a question being ‘anti’ or ‘pro’ Washington on nuclear issues. As on Iraq and so on India, ElBaradei has chosen to go by the merits of the issue at hand rather than considerations of political correctness of the moment.

After serving nearly two decades in the Egyptian foreign service,

ElBaradei moved to the IAEA in 1984, served it in different capacities and has headed it since the end of 1997. He is no ordinary civil servant. With a doctorate in law from New York University and immense experience in dealing with nuclear issues, ElBaradei has helped shape the international debates on non-proliferation at the turn of the century.

In the words of Nobel Committee, ElBaradei “has stood out as an unafraid advocate of new measures to strengthen” the non-proliferation regime. He was not doing a political favour to either Washington or New Delhi in backing the civil nuclear initiative. He had the courage of conviction to deliver one of the best intellectual defences of the nuclear deal in front of a global gathering of the non-proliferation community in Washington in the autumn of 2005.

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