Iran Wants Iran-Pakistan Pipeline Extended to India

Iran made a pitch on Friday for the extension of gas pipeline with Pakistan to India with its visiting chief of Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, saying that Tehran had the "best capacity" to provide security for the pipeline, Times of India has reported.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Jalili was on a three -day visit to India during which he met his counterpart NSA Shivshankar Menon.

India has repeatedly cited security as one of the concerns for not joining the pipeline known earlier as IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) pipeline. Tehran has left open the option of India joining later.

"Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world and we will welcome any step which can be used for the benefit of people," said Jalili. He was replying to a query about whether Tehran was still trying to convince India to allow the pipeline to be extended from Pakistan to India. "Just like the way it has handled piracy in the Persian Gulf, Iran has the best capacity to provide security also," he added when asked about the pipeline.

Fars News Agency, citing Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, reported that the two countries may discuss the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline at a joint commission meeting in the first quarter of the year. 

"Some issues about costs and all that still have to be sorted out. We will have a joint commission early this year sometime and in that joint commission, this issue will be taken up," he told reporters, Fars News Agency has reported.