Defense Minister: Islamabad is poised to finalize the project of the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif stated that “Pakistan is in a position to complete [gas] pipeline project with Iran, and makes decision regarding it” before to Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi’s visit this month.

Asif stated, “We are building gas pipeline on our side from Gwadar to the Iranian border,” during Monday’s Capital Talk segment of Geo News.

According to a story published in The News earlier this month, Pakistan started building the 80 km portion of the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline from Gwadar to a location where it can be joined to the Iranian portion of the project.

The project, which was supposed to be finished in December 2014 and put into service in January 2015, has been delayed by over 10 years due to the United States’ overt hostility to it and threats of possible penalties.

In the midst of ongoing tensions in the Middle East after Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile strike on Israel, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi is scheduled to visit Pakistan on April 22, sources said Geo News earlier today.

The sources claim that Islamabad and Tehran have reached an agreement on the issues surrounding President Raisi’s visit. President Raisi, who will be accompanied by a high-ranking team, is scheduled to meet with the military leadership, President Asif Ali Zardari, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The visit is a part of the two nations’ continuous attempts to strengthen their relationship, which suffered a brief setback earlier this year.

The defense minister told Capital Talk presenter Hamid Mir that although there was an incident before, relations between Pakistan and Iran remain calm, pointing to border tensions between the neighboring nations in January. “The gas pipeline project made progress, further strengthening bilateral ties.”

After Pakistan used killer drones, rockets, loitering bombs, and stand-off weaponry to target terrorists within Iranian territory in retribution for Tehran’s cross-border operations, relations between the two nations deteriorated.

Regarding other topics, the senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) described the nation’s economic stability as one of the coalition government’s major goals.

Regarding the political landscape, he believed that if his party could stabilize the economy in a few months, the government would not be threatened politically.

Asif said, in response to a query, that Pakistan has positive relations with both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Israel-Iran hostilities during the Gaza War

The defense minister denounced the Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, which resulted in the deaths of top military commanders, on the same talk program. Asif firmly declared that Iran is entitled to react as Israel attacked its consulate in flagrant defiance of international law.

He went on to say that following the Israeli strike, Pakistan was also anticipating a counterattack from Iran. He stated his opinion that backing for the Palestinians was the cause of the attack on the Iranian consulate. According to Asif, Pakistan is unwaveringly supporting the Palestinians.

He was concerned that Pakistan and other nations would be impacted by the escalating hostilities in the Middle East. Asif went on to say that nations that support Israel would likewise be consumed by the fires of war.

Asif said, “We do not want tensions to rise, but the genocide against the Palestinian people must end.”

The defense minister stated that Pakistan was not under any pressure to recognize Israel and that the sacrifices made by the Palestinians would not be in vain and that they would soon get freedom.