Adding to the pressure from Washington on the nuclear deal negotiations, key Congressional supporters of the n-deal have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to “sever” military ties with Iran and “terminate” all cooperation in the energy sector. This follows an April 19 letter by eight Senators on the same issue.

While the last letter from senators did not draw any linkage with the n-deal, the letter sent on Wednesday states that the India’s continuing exchange and cooperation with Iran as well as the recent case of “illegal procurement of sensitive technology” from a US company Cirrus has a “significant potential to negatively affect relations between US and India in general and consideration by Congress of the 123 agreement in particular”.

The letter, which is signed by Committee head Tom Lantos and six other Representatives of the House Foreign Committee including prominent India supporters like Gary Ackerman, clearly serves as a reminder that the 123 agreement too has to be passed by the Congress. With the White House entering a troubled phase in its relationship with the Congress after Republicans lost majority in both chambers, the letter is a clear signal for India to act fast in the negotiations.

But it is important to note here that Lantos was the first to raise the Iran question when the Bill was initiated in the House of Representatives last year. While many Congressmen along with him wanted to draw a direct relationship between operationalising the deal and India’s cooperation on the Iran nuclear issue, they backtracked and allowed it to be part of the ‘Statement of Policy’ section of the Bill which is not binding on the US Administration.

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