Indian PM hopes for diplomatic end to Iran's nuclear case

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed the hope that the standoff between Iran and the West over Tehran's peaceful nuclear program will be settled through diplomatic means.Singh acknowledged the Iranian nuclear standoff was "complicated" but voiced his "sincere hope" that the matter could finally be settled through diplomacy."We made quite clear that we respect Iran's right to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes," he said after his talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Singh called for greater diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the impasse over Tehran's nuclear impasse, saying New Delhi supports a "peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues" in the case.Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.Tehran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it has come clean of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s questions and suspicions about its past nuclear activities.