Islamabad: Pakistan will push forward with a controversial pipeline to import natural gas from neighboring Iran, Pakistan said Tuesday, a project opposed by the United States.
The pipeline will link Iran's gas fields with energy-starved Pakistan, but by going ahead with the project, Pakistan may incur U.S. and international sanctions imposed on Iran—or anyone doing business with Iran—over that country's nuclear program.
The U.S. has opposed the project and instead supported an alternative proposal to build a pipeline from the gas fields of Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday that petroleum ministers of the two countries met in Tehran on Monday to discuss the project, which has been beset by repeated delays.
The two countries decided to fast track the pipeline and formulate a road map to work out challenges, the ministry said.
