WION Edit: India watches as US-Iran conflict unravels

As the United States and Iran appear set on a collision course, it is clear that no global or regional player is prepared to openly side with Iran and invite the wrath of President Donald Trump. Washington is the primary offender.

It set out to provoke Iran by pulling out of the nuclear deal last year. Taunted, sanctioned and challenged, Iran had no choice but to defy the US. It had to show that it did not fear Trump's threat of "obliteration". It did so by crossing the threshold of uranium enrichment. The European Union knows that Iran is being baited by the US. But the EU cannot stand up to Trump. So they ask Iran to back down.

China, locked in a trade war with the US, has no appetite to test Trump on another front when its own interests are at stake. Russia, which wants Trump to attend the Victory Day Parade in Moscow's Red Square next year, is telling Tehran not to give in to emotion. As the nuclear stand-off continues, every country is asking Iran to stand by the 2015 nuclear deal although it is the US that has walked out of it. None is prepared to defy US sanctions against Iran.

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Iran has long and deep civilisational, economic, political and diplomatic ties with India. India-Iran friendship has survived difficult tests. During this nuclear stand-off, so far, India has not raised its voice explicitly against Iran. At the same time, there is no doubt that it is on the side of the US. Like all those at G-20 who lined up to shake President Trump's hand, will India too turn its back on Iran? As of now, like Russia, China and the EU, India is playing the safe wait and watch game.

(Disclaimer: WION Edit is the channel's take on the big events of the world)