US offers fresh sanctions warning over Iran-Pakistan pipeline

The State Department on Monday greeted a ceremony between Iran and Pakistan to launch a natural gas pipeline project with fresh warnings that it could trigger U.S. sanctions against Pakistan.

“We have serious concerns if this project actually goes forward that the Iran Sanctions Act would be triggered,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

She touted U.S. efforts to help increase Pakistan’s supply of energy through other means.

“We've been straight up with the Pakistanis about these concerns. And as I said at some length last week, we are also working very closely bilaterally to support alternative projects to provide Pakistan with the energy that it needs,” Nuland said at a press briefing.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari held a groundbreaking ceremony in Iran for construction to extend the pipeline into Pakistan, according to Bloomberg and other outlets.

Ahmadinejad called the day “historic,” according to the Associated Press. “The Westerners have no right to make any obstacles in the way of the project,” he said.

But AP notes there are major doubts about how Pakistan will provide the $1.5 billion needed to construct the pipeline, and Nuland expressed some skepticism that the project would proceed.

“We've heard this pipeline announced about 10 or 15 times before in the past. So we have to see what actually happens,” Nuland said.

“This pipeline project, if it actually goes forward – we've seen that promise many times – would take Pakistan in the wrong direction right at a time that we're trying to work with Pakistan on better, more reliable ways to meet its energy needs,” she said.

Nuland noted efforts to help renovate power plants and dams, new dams, and other initiatives to help Pakistan, which has faced major blackouts.