India junks Iran gas line

New Delhi, Dec. 25: The possibility of substantial progress on Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline is bleak unless political issues with Pakistan are resolved, said sources.

Earlier this month, the Iranian deputy oil minister, Mr Seifollah Jashnsaz, had said that India would soon specify dates for restarting the dialogue between the three nations.

But now, sources in the government said that India is reluctant to go ahead with the gas pipeline until political differences with Pakistan are resolved.

“The main hurdle is Pakistan. All other issues are minor which can be resolved very easily,” said sources.

India, however, is unlikely to officially come out of the pipeline. “If they want us to talk on pipeline we will talk. If they come to meet us we will meet them but progress looks difficult,” added the sources.

The Iranian foreign minister, Mr Manouchehr Mottaki, who was in New Delhi last month had warned that the Islamic nation will not wait forever for India to join the project.

Iran and Pakistan have this year signed a bilateral agreement to sell gas from the giant South Pars field in the Persian Gulf through a pipeline.

India last attended a trilateral ministerial meeting on the project in 2007.