The situation with the coal blocks allocation at the Parliament is not getting any better but the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already made plans to visit Iran today to attend the 16th Non-Aligned Movement Summit to be held at Tehran. This could also be a breather, much needed at the time, to the Prime Minister who is being harrowed by the Opposition, BJP and the IAC activists on the other hand. The PM would have to meet the heads of over 120 countries at the summit including the Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

The NAM summit has not a lot of expectations from the Indian diplomats but the reason behind the true reason behind the visit to Iran would be the importance of the host nation to India in a few critical areas. Iran is a long term and a potential solution to the energy problems to most of the world. Iran also plays a great role in providing a land route to the Central Asia, and an ally to provide regional security when the US troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2014 or a little later.

What Iran has in return is India's support on the nuclear issues with the Western nations. India, however, had already disclosed its stand in the issue. 
Ranjan Mathai the Foreign Secretary said, "We believe that there is a right of each state party to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and this has to be done in a manner which accords with both their rights and their obligations which they themselves have entered into".

However, the foremost reason for the PM to be at the summit is to
More than anything else, the PM's visit is about do declare on behalf of India of its sovereign right to craft and implement a foreign policy that would protect and preserve the core national interests while rebutting the any form of external pressures.

(AW- Anil)