America: We are preventing the implementation of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline

Donald Lowe, the assistant of the US State Department for South Asian and Central Asian affairs, stated in the hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of this country that in order to prevent the realization of the Iranian gas pipeline tries to Pakistan.

In response to a question, he said: I fully support the efforts of the American government to prevent the realization of this pipeline, we are working to achieve this goal.

Stating that the Biden administration is following up on recent developments regarding this pipeline, Lowe questioned Islamabad’s ability to finance the necessary funds to complete the project and said: “Honestly, I don’t know where the financing for such a project will come from.” I don’t think international donors are interested in financing it.

According to “Arab News”, the assistant of the US Foreign Ministry continued: “We are consulting with the government of Pakistan in this regard.” The government respects both the spirit and the letter of all sanctions laws related to Iran.

This American diplomat also clarified that Washington has not received any request from Islamabad to lift the sanctions.

At the beginning of March, the Energy Committee of the Cabinet of Pakistan gave its approval for the construction of an 80-kilometer pipeline from the Pakistan-Iran border to Gwadar.

Pakistan called one of the reasons for the delay in the construction of the pipeline in its territory due to constant concerns about the sanctions against Iran.

Iran has already extended the deadline for Pakistan to complete this pipeline until September 2024, and if Pakistan fails to complete this project by this time, it will have to pay Iran 18 billion dollars in compensation.

In 2009, Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement to supply 750 million cubic feet of gas per day for 25 years.

According to the agreement signed between the two countries in 2009, this project was supposed to be completed by December 2014, and both sides were required to build the pipeline in their territory.

Source: Tasnim