
The US has not removed sanctions on companies that seek to do business with or invest in Iran’s oil and gas sector. It is these sanctions that form the primary impediment to the Iran-Pakistan pipeline and the timing for their removal has yet to be even hinted at. Pakistan’s attorney general has suggested that a US-based international law firm should be engaged to evaluate the project before it starts and his suggestion should be followed. We should be careful of the imposition of US sanctions as they could be followed by similar treatment by European countries — a fate we can ill-afford. It is good that the government appears aware of the paradigm-altering consequences of the rapprochement between Washington and Tehran and we are especially glad that it is so enthusiastic about a project that is very openly opposed by Saudi Arabia. The Iran-Pakistan pipeline looks more possible now than in the past. Let us not blow our chance at completing it by being careless about it.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2013.
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