Iran plays tough with India...

Iran is one of the world's major problems right now.

Iran has scrapped a $21 billion natural gas export deal with India after New Delhi voted in favour of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution putting Tehran on notice over its nuclear programme, the Indian newspaper The Hindu reported on Wednesday.

Under a deal signed in June, India planned to import five million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually for 25 years with deliveries from Iran starting in 2009. Iran’s decision to cancel the deal was conveyed to India’s permanent representative, Sheelkant Sharma, at the IAEA by Iran’s ambassador in Vienna, The Hindu reported.

It followed India’s decision to join the US, Britain, France, Germany and other nations in backing a resolution calling on the agency to consider reporting Iran to the UN Security Council for not complying with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). The motion states that Iran is in “non-compliance” with the NPT, mainly for hiding sensitive atomic activities, and is an automatic trigger for taking the matter to the Security Council. Referral would come only after a report by IAEA chief Mohammed El Baradei, expected in November.

Sharma wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office on September 24 that his Iranian counterpart had told him the LNG deal, signed between the two sides in June, was off. The Iranian Ambassador in Vienna came up to Sharma after India’s vote and conveyed a message from Ali Larijani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, that Tehran was no longer willing to go ahead with the $21 billion deal, added the report. With this, India’s energy sector has suffered a major blow. Tehran supplies more than five percent of India’s crude oil imports.