Successive US administrations have been trying to force Iran’s neighbors to avoid buying Iranian oil/gas. However, the US has failed miserably to isolate Iran’s energy sector in order to throttle Iranian economy. Currently, India is the second largest importer of Iranian crude oil after China. Kabul has signed an agreement with Tehran in January 2012 to import one million tons of petroleum this year. Pakistan on the other hand is very eager to boost its oil import from neighboring Iran.
Iran is also supplying its oil/gas exploration technical expertise to Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba and Lebanon. In 2007, Iran, Venezuela and Malaysia agreed to build an oil refinery in Syria which will compete with Israel’s old Haifa refinery.
Early this year, Iran offered to supply 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day on deferred payment to Pakistan plus $250 million as credit for the Iran-Pakistan (I-P) gas pipeline.
On February 29, Hillary Clinton, in a testimony before pro-Israel US House committee threatened Islamabad with punitive economic sanctions if it went ahead with the proposed I-P gas pipeline.
“We have been very clear in pointing out the consequences of building this pipeline. This would particularly damaging to Pakistan because their economy is already quite shaky. The additional pressure would further undermine their economic status,” said Clinton.
Clinton’s threat brought a swift response from Pakistan’s foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar. Speaking at a news conference the very next day, Hina said that projects with Iran were in Pakistan’s “national interests” and would be completed regardless of any foreign pressures. Country’s prime minister, Yousaf Reza Gilani, also slammed Hillary Clinton’s blackmailing during a TV interview a few days later, “We are a sovereign country and we will do whatever is in the interest of Pakistan“.
Pakistan has received from the US about $30 billion in aid since 1960s as compared to over $3,000 billion US aid given to Israel since 1970s.
In June 2010, Barack Obama’s special envoy to Pakistan-Afghanistan, Zionist Jew Richard C. Holbrooke, had warned Pakistan against the multi-billion-dollar Iran gas pipeline intended to bring the much-needed natural gas to the energy-starved country.
In 1994, Iran and India signed a deal to build a 2,700-kilometre-long gas pipeline (IPI) at the cost of US$7.5 billion to transport Iranian gas through Pakistan to India. Dubbed as the “Peace Pipeline”, hoping that financial collaboration may bring peace between the nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. However, the construction of the proposed pipeline could not go ahead due to Washington’s pressure on New Delhi and Islamabad. In 2009, India dropped out of the deal under Washington’s blackmail with a nuclear deal in 2008.
In 2010, both Pakistan and Iran inked an agreement in Istanbul which involved the construction of a 900-kilometre-long gas pipeline, from Asalooyeh in Southern Iran and Iranshahr near the border with Pakistan that will transport 750 million cubic feet a day of gas from Iran to Pakistan for the next 25 years to generate 4,000 MW of electricity.
Lately, China has shown its desire to join in the I-P project by extending I-P from Pakistani Gwadar port to Xinjiang. China’s largest bank and world’s number one lender, ICBC, has already shown its willingness to fund the project.
Iran’s 900-km stretch of I-P to Pakistan-Iran Balochistan border has already been completed. Pakistan’s portion of I-P gas pipeline is being constructed by German ILF Enginerring.
Washington has long been pushing an alternate pipeline route from Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) in its effort to sideline Iran. The Turkmen natural reserves are partly owned by former Israeli Mossad agent Yosef Maiman. Building the TAPI pipeline is a Zionist pipe-dream. The export of Turkmenistan’s gas will enrich the Zionist Jew Maiman and his Israeli partners. This is the main reason Washington is trying to accomplish the TAPI project. Transit fees from the gas pipeline are intended to support the occupation of Afghanistan.
Iran has Middle East’s second largest known oil reserves after Saudi Arabia. Iran also have world’s second largest natural gas reserves (1046.7 trillion cubic) after Russia.