As New Delhi continues to flip-flop over the issue of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, Iran has warned that it would not wait indefinitely for India to join the project and suggested it might instead consider China as Beijing has evinced interest in the pipeline. Iranian Ambassador Seyed Mehdi Nabizadeh said in an interview it was important to understand the urgency to initiate work on the pipeline. With India not taking any decision, Iran and Pakistan have decided to go ahead with the pipeline project. “We waited long for India and expected that India and Pakistan would resolve the bottlenecks but that did not happen and we went ahead and singed the agreement with Pakistan. We believe India still has an opportunity to be part of the project, but it must be said that time is running out fast”, said Nabizedeh.
While Petroleum Minister Murli Deora recently denied reports that India has pulled out of the project, it is unlikely that New Delhi will agree to buy gas from Teheran through the proposed 3000 km pipeline any time soon because of security and transit fee issues. Iran’s growing alienation because of its nuclear ambitions and India’s increasing proximity to the US have added to New Delhi’s reluctance.
