India urges nuclear deal approval

Mr Saran urged bipartisan support for the deal in the US Congress

India's foreign secretary has urged US lawmakers to back a landmark bilateral nuclear deal and resist making changes that would slow it down.

Shyam Saran told key lawmakers in Washington on Friday that the deal was the result of complex talks and they should not "upset the balance".

The deal giving India access to nuclear technology must gain Congress approval.

Mr Saran also said that reports that an Iranian naval ship had received training in India were "misleading".

'Courtesy visit'

Mr Saran said he expected Congress would put aside doubts over the controversial nuclear deal and give it its backing.

The agreement was finalised during US President George W Bush's visit to India last month.

India would be given access to US civil nuclear technology and open its nuclear facilities to inspection.

[This agreement] wasn't pulled as a rabbit out of a hat Shyam Saran

But India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and critics say the deal sends the wrong message to countries like Iran, whose nuclear ambitions Washington opposes.

Mr Saran said the deal was hammered out through complex negotiations and lawmakers should not upset the "very, very delicate balance".

"If you start making revisions and changes, that balance is likely to be upset," he said.

Mr Saran said there would be a "price to pay" if the deal foundered.

"It should be seen as a part and parcel of a much larger relationship which has developed between the two countries," Mr Saran said.

He said there would be a "a loss in terms of the built up expectations and enthusiasm" if the agreement was not backed.

The foreign secretary also sought to play down a visit by an Iranian naval vessel to India.

US lawmaker Tom Lantos had expressed misgivings over the vessel but Mr Saran told him the ship was on a "courtesy visit" not a training mission.

"Somehow somebody has given the impression that India has engaged in training the Iranian navy or there were some joint exercises, which is completely misleading," Mr Saran said.