New Delhi
12 February 2008
Iran on Tuesday said that there are other countries eager to buy
Iranian gas and India must conclude technical negotiations with Pakistan at the earliest
so that the India-Pakistan-Iran (IPI) gas pipeline project can become a reality.
"We don't have a lot of time," visiting Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Syed
Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters here, adding that India should "try to expedite
decision-making" and not "postpone it for later".
Pakistan and Iran have finalised a gas purchase agreement but differences persist
between Pakistan and India on transit fee. New Delhi has indicated that it could hold
discussions with Islamabad after the February 18 general election in that country.
Mr Hosseini sought to suggest that some more countries have made proposals similar
to China's but Iran will consider them only after the three original proposers -- India,
Pakistan and Iran -- have come to a final decision.
He was responding to a question about a report published by Daily Times newspaper of
Pakistan, which quoted unidentified sources as saying that China is ready to join
Pakistan and Iran to build a pipeline to transport Iranian gas if India does not participate
in the project.
Mr Hosseini, who was leading an Iranian delegation comprising media persons to India,
said that the talks on the IPI project had neither stopped nor collapsed and a tripartite
meeting could be held very soon for sorting out certain technical issues.
He said that projects of huge magnitude, such as the IPI project, will take time to
materialise and that Iran remained willing and determined to get the project off the
ground as soon as possible.
He asserted that there is no need for Iran to stop uranium enrichment or any other
nuclear activity because the IAEA has detected "no divergence from the peaceful trend"
of Iran's nuclear programme.
"All peaceful nuclear activities and enrichment are based on NPT (Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty) and international laws," he said, and welcomed the Russian
Government for taking "a more realistic position" on the Iranian nuclear programme than
other countries.
Training his guns on the United States, Mr Hosseini said that Iran was prepared for any
eventuality in its standoff with the US over its nuclear programme but he felt that the
spectre of war was "too weak or zero" if regional realities were any indicator.
Some of those regional realities, he elaborated, were evidenced in the situation the US
found itself in in Afghanistan and Iraq. "It's only logical it won't go for a third war," Mr
Hosseini said, adding that the US policies in the region have given rise to extremism
and terrorism and hatred towards the US today is outstandingly high.
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