Pakistan has temporarily delayed a multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline project to bring cheap energy from neighboring Iran, apparently under pressure from the United States, which has imposed sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program, according to a media report on Monday.
The development comes as Pakistan tries to fix its cash-strapped economy with the help of the International Monetary Fund, which has agreed to a $3 billion loan.
The project was initially planned as an India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline, but later India abandoned it and became a bilateral project between Pakistan and Iran.
Sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran over its nuclear program caused Pakistan to abandon the construction. Pakistan has issued a force majeure and mitigating event to Iran to suspend its contractual obligations following the completion of the multi-billion dollar Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project due to external factors beyond Islamabad's control, Dawn newspaper reported. Pakistan has expressed its inability to proceed with the project until US sanctions against Iran remain in place or Washington gives Islamabad a tacit green light to proceed with the project, which has been in cold storage for nearly a decade despite acute energy shortages in the south. Asia. A nation of 240 million people, according to the magazine.