TEHRAN: Iran said on Wednesday that despite US pressure a much-delayed $7.5 billion gas pipeline project between Iran and Pakistan must go ahead, a project strongly opposed by Tehran’s archfoe Washington.
“The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline is an important example of Tehran-Islamabad cooperation, and despite hostilities towards the expansion of ties we must overcome this opposition decisively,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, his office reported.
“Accessing safe energy source is the first priority for any country including Pakistan. In this region, the Islamic republic is the only nation that has safe energy resources and we are ready to provide Pakistan its energy needs,” the all-powerful Khamenei said.
The pipeline project has run into repeated problems, including Pakistan’s difficulty in finding funds and opposition to the project from Washington, which has slapped Iran with a raft of sanctions over its nuclear activities.
Earlier in the meeting, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Zardari that, “building the gas pipeline between Iran and Pakistan is a great and important event, and it serves the two nations’ interests,” the president’s office reported.
“I believe that building this project is very beneficial for both sides and we support all the work carried out so far,” Zardari said in talks his Iranian counterpart.
“The international and regional players have tried in vain to prevent an expansion of Iran-Pakistan ties but the people have learnt how to act against enemies of Islam,” Pakistan’s President was quoted as saying.
Pakistan has said it will pursue the project regardless of US pressure, saying the gas is needed to help Pakistan overcome its energy crisis that has led to debilitating blackouts and suffocated industry.
Iran has almost completed the pipeline work in its territory, but Pakistan has not yet started construction of 780 kilometers (490 miles) of the pipeline on its side, which is said to cost some $1.5 billion.
Sanctions-hit Iran finally agreed to finance one third of the costs of laying the pipeline through Pakistani territory to Nawabshah, north of Karachi, with the work to be carried out by an Iranian company.
