Pipeline: Iran could ditch India for China

NEW DELHI: As India continues to flip-flop over the issue of the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) peace pipeline, Iran on Wednesday warned that it will not wait indefinitely for India to join the project and suggested that it might instead consider China as Beijing has evinced interest in the pipeline.

Iranian ambassador Seyed Mehdi Nabizedeh said that it is important to understand the urgency to initiate work on the pipeline.

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 Tehran through the proposed 3,000-km pipeline any time soon because of security and transit fee issues. Iran's growing alienation because of its nuclear ambitions and India's proximity to the US have further contributed to New Delhi's reluctance.

With India not taking any decision, Iran and Pakistan decided to go ahead with the project in May this year. "We waited long for India and expected that India and Pakistan would resolve the bottlenecks but that didn't happen and we went ahead to sign the agreement with Pakistan. We believe India still has an opportunity to be a part of the project, but it must be said that time is running out fast," said Nabizedeh.

The ambassador, however, avoided a direct reply when questioned whether or not Iran had started negotiations with China. "It is true (that China has shown interest). We hope that this tripartite agreement is settled soon so that we do not have to talk with anyone else," he stated.

It must be mentioned here that Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had recently said that the IPI pipeline could turn into IPC (Iran-Pakistan-China) pipeline.

Pakistani ambassador to Iran Muhammad Bux Abbasi had earlier been quoted in `Tehran Times' as saying that India is out of the pipeline deal, but it was denied soon after by Deora. "With Iran the question is still open, but because of the political situation in Pakistan, just now there is a little bit of a stop on that," said Deora.