Iran pipeline talks on: Deora

Talks on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline are being pursued "sincerely" and New Delhi will not buckle to any pressure, including from the US, on the project, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora has said.

"The pipeline project is in the interest of all the three nations. We are pursuing the matter sincerely," Deora, who is leading a delegation of energy company officials to the three-day 10th International Energy Forum in Doha, said.

The delegation includes the Indian Oil Chairman Sarthak Behuria, ONGC CMD Subir Raha and Petronet LNG Managing Director P Dasgupta.

Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan was in Tehran recently in connection with the proposed pipeline and before that, Pakistan's oil minister had paid a visit to New Delhi to discuss the same, Deora recalled.

Asked if there was any pressure from the US to shelve the venture, Deora told "The Peninsula" that India would not buckle to pressure even from the US.