WASHINGTON, March 30: The United States has strongly defended the civilian nuclear deal with India, saying it materialized only after New Delhi’s commitment to meet non-proliferation goals.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack countered the remarks made by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday that the deal came at a wrong time when international efforts were for curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “Our view, in sum, is that at the end of the day, India has been a responsible member of the international community when it comes to issues of non-proliferation,” Mr McCormack said.

Iran, on the other hand, he said “has abrogated its treaty obligations not to seek to develop a nuclear weapon, continually lied to the international community. And certainly we do have concerns about Iran’s involvement in proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”.