After Meeting with Holbrooke, Gilani Says Pakistan Will Abide by US Sanctions on Iran, Including Gas Pipeline

Pakistan to abide by US sanctions on Iran: PM

June 21, 2010, 07:36 pm

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Monday said that his country would abide by US sanctions on Iran which could hit a 7.6-billion-dollar gas pipeline project.

"Pakistan as a member of the international community will follow any sanctions imposed by the US," Gilani told reporters in southern Sindh province in response to a question.

US special envoy to Pakistan Richard Holbrooke Sunday said he had warned Islamabad against signing a deal with Iran on the gas pipeline, saying the US was preparing laws that could affect the project.

Iran and Pakistan last week formally signed an export deal which commits Tehran to selling natural gas to its eastern neighbour from 2014.

Iran has already constructed 907 kilometres (564 miles) of the pipeline between Asalooyeh, in southern Iran, and Iranshahr, which will carry natural gas from Iran's giant South Pars field.

The pipeline was originally planned to connect Iran, Pakistan and India, but the latter pulled out of the project last year.

Pakistan plans to use the gas purchased from Iran for its power sector.

The Obama administration last week added Iranian individuals and firms to a blacklist as part of US and European efforts to tighten the screws on Iran a week after UN approved sanctions against its nuclear programme.

The new US sanctions target insurance companies, oil firms and shipping lines linked to Iran's nuclear or missile programmes as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Iran's defence minister Ahmad Vahidi.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also said on Sunday that if the project came under sanctions then Pakistan "will not violate the international law."

Pakistan says will abide by U.S. sanctions on Iran

June 21, 2010, 01:18 pm

Kamran Haider

Pakistan will abide by any U.S. sanctions on Iran, which Washington has warned could hit Pakistani companies involved in a $7.6 billion (5.1 billion pound) Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline deal, the prime minister said on Monday.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani's remarks came the day after U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke warned Islamabad against becoming too committed to the project because of the expected sanctions' effects.

"If the U.S. imposes sanctions, they will have international implications and Pakistan as a member of the international community will follow them," he told reporters at a press conference in the southern Sindh province.

The U.S. Congress is finalising legislation tightening sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, which Washington believes is being used to develop weapons. Tehran denies that.

Holbrooke urged Pakistan to wait and see the final legislation before moving ahead on the deal, signed in March.

Pakistan is desperate for new energy sources, saddled with expensive power generation and a daily shortage of as much as 5,000 megawatts. Frequent power outages hamper industry and have sparked street protests against President Asif Ali Zardari's government.

Washington has not criticised the gas pipeline project too loudly, forced to balance its need to back Pakistan, a crucial ally in the global war against al Qaeda, against its goal of isolating Iran.

The U.N. Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran on June 9 over its nuclear programme, which Washington believes is being used to develop weapons. Iran denies trying to develop a nuclear arsenal.

The pipeline, expected to be completed by 2015, originally would have terminated in India. However, New Delhi has been reluctant to join given its long-running rivalry with Pakistan.

(Writing by Bryson Hull, editing by Miral Fahmy)

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