Iran Steps on Diplomatic Gas

Newindpress:

Stepping up its diplomacy a month ahead of the second crucial vote in Vienna, Tehran has invited New Delhi for a second meeting on the proposed India-Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project. READ MORE

The Ministry of External Affairs has cleared the delegation to attend the Joint Working Group meeting on October 24.

The Iranian invitation, from Deputy Minister Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian, comes the day US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, speaking in New York, applauded New Delhi's stand vote on Tehran's nuclear programme at the IAEA as "a dramatic example of where it stands on the critical effort to prevent a theocratic Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.''

Besides diplomacy, Tehran's invite is also fuelled by economic reasons: India's market provides Iran an outlet to sell its surplus gas while a proposed gas liquefaction project by Indian Oil Corp in Iran helps Tehran gain currency as a safe investment destination.

The invite to Petroleum Secretary S C Tripathi offers a sightseeing tour to Isfahan for the Indian delegation on October 25.

The two nations have a pact under which India will import 5 million tonnes of LNG per annum for 25 years, tied to Iran giving equity to India in Yadavaran and Juffeyr oil and gas blocks. Iran, Pakistan and India are currently engaged in bilateral talks among themselves to work out the modalities of the project.