TEHRAN, Sept 26: Iran warned India on Wednesday that it would sign a multi-billion dollar gas pipeline deal with Pakistan alone if New Delhi did not swiftly agree terms on transit pricing with Islamabad.

Iranian and Pakistani officials are holding a round of talks this week over finalising the long-delayed pipeline, which would see Iranian gas sent to Pakistan and to India via Pakistan.

But Indian officials have been absent from the talks over the “peace pipeline” as Islamabad and New Delhi have yet to agree over the payment of transit fees by the latter.

“We prefer it to be a tripartite deal, but if it does not happen, we will sign it with the Pakistanis,” Iran’s caretaker Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari told reporters.

But he repeated that the door is not totally closed for the Indian side.

“We are still emphasising that we want it to be a tripartite deal. The door is still open for the Indians,” he added.

India had said on Tuesday it remained committed to the deal despite its not attending the new round of talks in Tehran.

Discussions on the 7.4-billion-dollar project started in 1994, but have been held up by technical and commercial issues.

There have also been strong objections to the pipeline from the United States as it is at loggerheads with Iran over its contested nuclear programme.

The 2,600-kilometre pipeline from Iran’s giant South Pars gas field would initially carry around 60 million standard cubic metres of gas per day.

Iran has the world’s second largest gas reserves after Russia, but until now has remained a relatively minor player in the global export market.—AFP