Petroleum Minister Murli Deora met Iran's Deputy Minister for International Affairs H Noghrehkar Shirazi on the sidelines of the 12th International Energy Forum here to propose bilateral talks in May.
With External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee set to visit Iran on February 6, there will be more than one pair of eyes watching the visit closely.
A major earthquake measuring 7.8 on the richter scale rocked the Iran-Pakistan border on Tuesday, tremors of which were experienced in North India, including New Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab.
He said there will not be exclusive pipelines for India and Pakistan.
India is likely to sign a $145 billion deal by June to import natural gas from Iran through the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline after Tehran lowered the sale price by 30 per cent.
Pakistan and Iran are holding three-day talks in Islamabad on the multi-billion dollar Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project though India is not participating in the parleys as differences on some key issues remain to be settled.
'During Eid Muslims get Eidi, but Opposition parties never gave that to them.' 'When PM Modi is giving Eidi to Muslims Opposition leaders are getting upset.'
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, is facing deportation after US authorities accused him of "spreading Hamas propaganda" and having "close connections to a suspected terrorist." The Department of Homeland Security claims Suri has been actively promoting antisemitism on social media and is connected to a senior Hamas advisor. Suri's lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, argues that his client is being targeted due to his wife's Palestinian heritage and their opposition to US foreign policy towards Israel. The incident follows the self-deportation of another Indian student from Columbia University who was also accused of supporting Hamas.
India is keen to partner the proposed multi-billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project and has promised to resist "all external pressures on the issue", Iranian oil minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said.India's petroleum minister Murli Deora is set to arrive in Pakistan on April 21 to hold talks on transit fee to be paid to Islamabad on the $7 billion IPI project.
A major earthquake measuring 7.8 on the richter scale rocked the Iran-Pakistan border on Tuesday, tremors of which were experienced in North India, including New Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab.
'Victims of terrorism do not sit together with its perpetrators to discuss terrorism.'
In his statement, Hosseini said, "Expedite the decision-making process to finalise the gas deal." The spokesperson for the first time showed Iran's urgency in the matter, saying, "We don't have a lot of time".
The Indian men's kabaddi team thrashed arch-rival Pakistan 61-14 on Friday to storm into the final of the Asian Games.
Iran and Pakistan recently signed an export deal that commits Tehran to selling natural gas to Islamabad from 2014.
Iran's energy counsellor in India Ainollah Souri says that Iran will send its gas all over the world, and it is up to India to decide whether it wants a share of it.
In the Middle East, which is already coping with the Qatar-Saudi Arabia tensions, comes another pressure point.
Talks on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project are in the final stage where the technical aspects are being looked into, according to Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Reza Kasai'i Zadeh.
Any aggression against Iran over its nuclear programme will have "disastrous consequences" for the whole region, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has warned.
The proposed gas pipeline between Iran and India will become a reality by 2010, the Iranian envoy to New Delhi said on Tuesday.
Iranian authorities partially closed the border with Pakistan at Taftan in Balochistan province last week after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Zahedan on May 28. The complete closure of the border has been ordered on Saturday.
India is likely to join a consortium involving Iran and Pakistan to build the much delayed $7.4-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline
Seven fishermen from Kerala, three from Tamil Nadu, and a citizen of an Arab nation who went fishing from Ajman, UAE, were detained by the Iranian Navy a few days ago after they unintentionally crossed over the waters of the Middle East nation.
Last week, Pakistan and Iran had signed a memorandum of understanding for the implementation of the 2600-km project.
In a new twist to negotiations on the much-delayed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, Tehran wants legal immunity in case of armed conflict disrupting natural gas supplies through the proposed line.
The directive from 'above' has come to the petroleum ministry on the eve of the departure of the Indian delegation to Tehran for a decisive last round of the trilateral negotiations scheduled to be held there later this week.
'Tehran senses that the Modi government is inexorably gravitating toward the US-Israeli-Saudi axis, jettisoning India's traditional independent Gulf policies,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A Bill has been introduced in the US Congress aimed at enforcing punitive action against companies doing business with Iran that may impact Indo-US nuclear pact and create obstacles for Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
GAIL has already been appointed as the nodal agency for the pipeline in India.
The attack is the latest in a string of violence in Pakistan. It comes less ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's summit to be held in the national capital.
India on Monday said that gas imports from Iran by pipeline passing through Pakistan was indispensable to its economic growth and will enter into trilateral dialogue on the pipeline early next year.
Iran may put the $22 billion deal to sell liquefied natural gas to India on the backburner as New Delhi refuses to re-open the contract sealed two years ago, according to an assessment by the petroleum ministry.
The Chabahar message is a reality check for China, which has made deep political and strategic inroads into Iran.
Iran on Tuesday denied existence of any contract for export of liquefied natural gas to India while stating that it cannot wait endlessly for New Delhi to join the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.
"We will examine the latest developments and make a determination about our future engagement with BRICS," Baloch said.
Tehran is seeking at least 7.2 dollars per mBtu price for gas it wants to sell to India and Pakistan through the over 7 billion dollar pipeline while New Delhi is willing to pay no more than 4.2 dollars per mBtu for gas delivered at its border.
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