NEW DELHI, April 8: A decision by the US Congress to block a nuclear deal between the two countries would hit warming India-US relations, India’s foreign secretary said on Saturday. “Given the kind of expectations which have been built up, if this deal does not for any reason go through, there will be some disappointed expectations,” Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told NDTV news New Delhi.

“There will be a sense of lowered expectations which will have an impact on India-US relations.”

“What our credible minimum deterrent would be is really for India to decide,” Saran said to NDTV.

In response to a statement from US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher asking for “minimum credible deterrent” to be further explained, the foreign ministry issued a statement saying it “requires no further elucidation”.

“It reflects our response to a dynamic and changing security environment,” the statement said.

The nuclear deal ends three decades of India’s atomic isolation by the United States after it developed nuclear weapons and refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

New Delhi has been closely watching Rice pitch hard for the nuclear agreement with US lawmakers.—Reuters