Better, says Pierre Goldschmidt, an ex-head of safeguards at the IAEA, to end all favouritism.

ECONOMIST: But will still counts for more than legal powers or cash

Henry Sokolski, the director of NPEC and a critic of the IAEA's safeguards, thinks such a deal is not worth having.

ECONOMIST: Iran and nuclear weapons

On nonproliferation, they came into the additional protocol of the IAEA, which submits them to additional safeguards and brings them into a nonproliferation regime that is important to the United States and the world.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

India now needs to negotiate a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and win the consensus of the Nuclear Suppliers' Group so that the Bush administration can present the deal to Congress for a final vote before the end of 2007.

BBC: NEWS | South Asia | Is India-US nuclear accord dead?