Islamabad —
The US State Department stated it doesn’t assist Pakistan’s plan to construct a pipeline to import fuel from Iran.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to touch upon potential sanctions towards Pakistan for vitality imports from Iran. However, he warned Islamabad to not go forward with the plan.
“But we at all times advise everybody that doing enterprise with Iran carries the danger of touching and contacting our sanctions, and we might advise everybody to think about that very rigorously,” Miller stated. “The Assistant Secretary made it clear final week that we are going to now not assist this pipeline.”
Donald Lew, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, stated at a House Foreign Affairs Committee listening to final Wednesday that importing fuel from Iran would expose Pakistan to U.S. sanctions.
Mr Miller’s remarks got here after Pakistani media reported on Tuesday that Islamabad was planning to hunt a waiver from US sanctions.
“We search exemption from US sanctions. Pakistan can’t afford sanctions over the fuel pipeline undertaking,” Oil Minister Musaddiq Malik advised the media throughout a casual assembly, Dawn News reported.
VOA contacted Malik for extra info however didn’t obtain a response.
Lu advised the committee final week that Washington “has not heard from the federal government of Pakistan any request for exemption from U.S. sanctions that would definitely consequence from such a undertaking.”
Pakistan’s overseas ministry stated Islamabad doesn’t want any exemption to construct the pipeline.
“This is a part of a pipeline that’s being constructed inside Pakistani territory. Therefore, we consider that there isn’t any scope for dialogue or waiver by a 3rd occasion presently,” stated Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. stated this in response to a query from VOA throughout his weekly press convention final Thursday.
Pakistan and Iran signed an settlement in June 2009 for a pipeline that may provide 750 million to 1 billion cubic toes of Iranian pure fuel to Pakistan.
Iran claimed to have accomplished building of 900 kilometers of the Iranian facet of the pipeline in 2011, however Pakistan delayed building on the Iranian facet primarily resulting from worry of US sanctions.
Tehran is beneath sanctions from Washington over its nuclear program.