Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline will raise serious concerns: US

Washington: The $7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, if finalised, would raise serious concerns under America’s Iran Sanctions Act, the United States warned on Friday. “If a deal were finalised for the proposed Pakistan-Iran pipeline, it would raise serious concerns under the Iran Sanctions Act… We have made that absolutely clear,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday returned to his country after a two-day visit to Iran for finalising the pipeline deal and sorting out financing and technical issues. “Of course, Washington will look at it,” Ventrell said in response to a question on the decision of Pakistan to go ahead with the project despite objections from the United States. “As a member of the international community, a current member of the IAEA board of governors and the UN Security Council, Pakistan has an obligation to join multilateral efforts to convince Iran to adhere to international nuclear obligations,” Ventrell said. “We are still talking about something that’s hypothetical. We’d have to monitor and see exactly what sort of infraction it would be. But I can look into see if we can give you a technical readout of how that works,” he said. The US, he said, continues to discuss Pakistan’s energy needs, especially through its bilateral mission in Islamabad and contributing to the alleviation of its energy crisis. “So it’s something we’re working with our Pakistani counterparts on. They know our position, and we’ll continue to discuss this with our Pakistani counterparts,” he added. PTI