The United States believes that the mega project of Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline is only in a “prospective phase”. US State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland has reiterated the stance of the US administration on the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project. “We’ve had this conversation here many times. This is a deal that has been talked about, come and gone many times, so we first make the point to Pakistan about whether they really think that Iran is going to be a reliable partner in this,” she said. “We secondly make the point that we understand the energy needs of Pakistan. We are prepared to continue to work with Pakistan, as we have in the past, on other sources of energy,” she added. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also made the same point during a recent hearing at Capitol Hill. When asked that the secretary had also hinted at sanctions against Pakistan in case of going ahead with the pipeline deal with Iran, she refused to give a clear answer. When pressed further that Pakistan had given the contract of laying the pipeline in its territory to a German firm, she said, “I’m not going to prejudge what might be sanctionable on a deal that is just prospective at this point and where tenders have only just gone out.” “This is now in the execution phase. This is not just talk. They are – they have given tenders for laying the pipeline. The route survey is underway,” a journalist argued.
