India took its deserved place at the world’s most powerful table on Tuesday, winning a two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council with the resounding support of 187 of the assembly’s 192 countries. 
Immediately, the country’s U.N. Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri began talking of his intent to use the tenure to push for reform, with an eye on a permanent berth for the Asian giant.
But the perennial issue of sanctions against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Iran and its nuclear ambitions are a more pressing — and complex — issue for India in its new role.
India, a key trading partner with Iran, has recently advocated an anti-sanctions stance, but under pressure from the U.S. voted for sanctions at the International Atomic Energy Association in 2006, and again at the U.N. General Assembly a couple of years later.
With the added responsibility of its new-found position as a global mediator, its position will come under greater scrutiny and further pressure from pro-sanctions states.
Just how close can New Delhi afford to be to Tehran before it seriously angers Washington. In the end, will India be forced to choose — Iranian gas or American friendship?
