Washington: In a damage control exercise, the U.S. on Thursday said its Ambassador David C. Mulford's comments that there would be a ``devastating" effect on the India-U.S. nuclear deal if India did not vote against Iran at the IAEA, reflected the ``very strongly held feelings'' in Congress but a final decision on the issue would be taken by New Delhi.

"...We deal with the Indian Government on these two issues as separate issues. Certainly, they come up in conversations," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters at a briefing.

Mr. McCormack was asked to explain comments made by Mr. Mulford in an interview to PTI on Wednesday. Mr. Mulford had said that if India did not vote against Teheran's nuclear programme at the IAEA, the fallout of it on the civilian nuclear deal would be "devastating" and the initiative would "die."

"Let me be clear. Ultimately, how India votes on this matter (on Iran) is going to be a decision for the Indian Government. They voted to find Iran in non-compliance that last time around," Mr. McCormack said. "But, I think what the Ambassador was doing was talking about and reflecting the view on Capitol Hill ... there are very strongly held feelings about Iran and the need for the international community to act decisively and firmly and with a single voice concerning Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon."

Mr. McCormack said, "We continue to encourage the Indian Government to vote for referral. Ultimately, that is going to be their decision. And we have also been talking to them about the importance of making progress on their implementation plan for separating the civilian and military nuclear programmes."

Asked what would happen to the civilian nuclear accord if India did not vote for referring Iran to the Security Council, Mr. McCormack said the administration would continue to work with the Government of India on the implementation of the agreement with the hope that progress could be made on the issue in time for President George W Bush's visit to India this March.

"Part of making progress on this issue is for the Indian Government to present a workable plan that would separate the Indian civilian and military nuclear programmes. We're still talking about that issue with the Indian Government and I expect those discussions will continue," the spokesman said. — PTI

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