WASHINGTON: The US said on Thursday that Pakistan should not go ahead with Iran-Pak gas pipeline deal as Iran is not a “reliable” partner and would also violate its sanctions on the country under Iran Sanctions Act (ISA).
“Just to be absolutely clear, if the deal for a proposed Iran-Pakistan pipeline is finalised, it would raise serious concerns under our Iran Sanctions Act. We’ve made that absolutely clear to our Pakistani counterparts,” spokesperson for the State Department, Victoria Nuland said on Thursday. “Iran has proven again and again that it is not a reliable partner,” she said.
Meanwhile, the US official said that Pakistan has a lot of energy requirements and US is working in close partnership to meet those needs through a variety of means including the Tazakistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline and other bilateral measures.
“This is the right direction for Pakistan, we believe, and we think the international community is prepared to be supportive and we hope they don’t go in a direction that would cause sanctions to kick in,” Nuland further said.
The spokesperson said US was making efforts to help resolve energy crisis in Pakistan and to advance Mangla and Jamshoro power plants. Nuland added gas pipeline accord with Iran was against UN sanctions.
DND
