The United States has asked Islamabad not to go ahead with Iran-Pak gas pipeline deal as Iran is not a “reliable” partner and would also violate its sanctions on the country under Iran Sanctions Act (ISA).

“Just to be absolutely clear, if the deal for a proposed Iran-Pakistan pipeline is finalised, it would raise serious concerns under our Iran Sanctions Act. We’ve made that absolutely clear to our Pakistani counterparts,” State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland said yesterday.

“Iran has proven again and again that it is not a reliable partner,” Nuland said.

Meanwhile, the US official said that Pakistan has a lot of energy requirements and US is working in close partnership to meet those needs through a variety of means including the Tazakistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline and other bilateral measures.

“This is the right direction for Pakistan, we believe, and we think the international community is prepared to be supportive and we hope they don’t go in a direction that would cause sanctions to kick in,” Nuland added.

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