No US pressure on Iran gas pipeline issue, says Aziz
ISLAMABAD, March 12: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday denied the United States has been putting pressure on Islamabad over a planned trilateral gas pipeline involving Pakistan, Iran and India.
“There is no pressure on us,” Mr Aziz told reporters when asked whether the United States, which has reportedly conveyed its concern to India over the project, had also raised the matter with Islamabad.
US Ambassador to India David Mulford said in New Delhi that Washington had reservations about the energy deal, according to a report in the Indian Express newspaper.
The US ambassador had raised the issue in a meeting with Indian Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, said the report, which comes amid mounting US concerns about Iran’s nuclear weapons programme.
Washington’s concerns were likely to be raised again when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would visit India on March 16, the newspaper said.
Rice would also visit Pakistan during her first regional tour after assuming the office.
Mr Aziz said he had asked Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri to invite the Indian oil minister, and the Iranian oil minister would also be coming to Pakistan in connection with the project. He did not give any date.—AFP
