Iran confident of India joining gas pipeline

Iran says it is confident that the proposed "peace pipeline" project to transfer natural gas from the rich Iranian fields to Pakistan and India will be constructed once the negotiations between New Delhi and Islamabad are concluded.

"We are waiting for the talks between Pakistan and India to conclude and then the implementation of the project will be finalised," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Business Standard yesterday.

"The implementation of the project will not be affected by current developments in Afghanistan and we are in regular contact with our friends in India," he said.

The Bush administration had reportedly resorted to arm-twisting the governments in South Asia to abandon the project with Iran once and for all.

But Pakistan turned a deaf ear to the US' protests. The Iranian minister also maintained Tehran was actively considering supporting India on the safeguards agreement between New Delhi and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Iran intensified its hardline stance against the US and Israel saying the two countries posed a grave threat to international security and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

"Sanctions are new," he told reporters, suggesting that the latest sanctions would have no impact on the Iranian economy.

He asked the IAEA to look into the alleged supply of nuclear materials by France to Israel saying these actions would pose a threat to the non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

He said while some countries were beneficiaries and continued to receive nuclear technologies and materials without signing the NPT, Iran was penalised for pursuing legitimate civilian nuclear activities.

The Iranian minister blasted Israel by saying the "Zionist regime" poses "a uniquely grave threat to the regional and international peace and security and requires to be seriously dealt with by the international community taking practical measures".