March 23, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1428

MUMBAI, March 22: India's plans to purchase gas and oil from Iran will help fund Tehran's development of nuclear weapons, US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman claimed on Thursday.

“There have been conversations... and if that is allowed to go forward, in our judgement, this will contribute to development of nuclear weapons,” he told reporters in Mumbai at the end of a three-day visit to India.

The United States and its allies claim Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, and major world powers agreed last week on new UN sanctions for Tehran because of its atomic programme.

Bodman had said in New Delhi on Tuesday that US relations with India would not be hurt by plans to build a $7 billion gas pipeline from Iran via neighbouring Pakistan.

But on Thursday he expressed Washington's displeasure with the dealings of nuclear-armed India with Tehran, a traditional friend of New Delhi. “Of course,” Bodman told reporters when asked if the pipeline would help to fund Iran's nuclear programme.

“I think it's against the interest of the United States. I think that supporting nuclear weapons is against the interest of the world,” he said.

New Delhi hopes to sign the pipeline deal with Tehran by June. It is also negotiating for 5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year over a 25-year period from 2009.—Reuters