WASHINGTON, July 25: The US State Department has acknowledged that it has delayed sending a report to the Congress which critics say shows India helped Iran build its nuclear programme.

“This would not be the first time that there have been some delays in getting it to (Capitol) Hill,” the department’s deputy spokesman Tom Casey told a Monday briefing. “We’re working on it as expeditiously as possible. … It’ll be out very shortly.”

He was referring to the semi-annual Iran Non-proliferation Act Compliance report which details activities of foreign companies and entities that may have assisted Iran in proliferation activities.

Critics say that since the report shows a connection between India and Iran’s nuclear programme, the US administration delayed it to ensure a smooth passage for a proposed nuclear deal with India.

On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives takes the first of two key votes on the deal, which will permit sales of American nuclear fuel and reactors to New Delhi for the first time in 30 years.

But Mr Casey insisted that there are ‘no political considerations that are delaying’ (the report’s) release to the Hill.”

On the other hand, Democratic Congressman Edward Markey and some other lawmakers accused the state department of withholding the report until after the vote on the Indo-US nuclear deal, saying that it would show Indian entities have sold to or received weapons of mass destruction technology from Iran or Syria.

Mr Markey also criticized the Indo-US deal, saying that it would increase a nuclear arms race in South Asia.

“The nuclear arms race in South Asia is about to ignite, and … the Bush Administration is throwing fuel on the fire,” he said.

“If either India or Pakistan starts increasing its nuclear arsenal, the other side will respond in kind; and the Bush Administration’s proposed nuclear deal with India is making that much more likely,” he added.

Mr Markey urged Pakistan and India to ‘reverse their decisions to increase their nuclear arsenals, and take a step back from the brink.

He said that President Bush should press both India and Pakistan to agree to suspend production of bomb-grade fissile materials while such a cut-off treaty was being negotiated.

Last year, the State Department had fined two Indian companies for selling chemical weapons to Iran.