Govt goes slow on IPI pipeline

Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had visited Pakistan last week in this connection. But today he told reporters outside Parliament: "Delivery (of the gas) is still an issue".

The high price of the gas was the reason India had cited earlier while objecting to the pipeline. That is no longer the only deciding factor. The volatile political environment in Iran and Pakistan has as much weightage now and the UPA government is becoming more reluctant to endorse the pipeline project.

This does not mean talks on the IPI pipeline will be halted. Instead, they will continue at different levels, the source, who is also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), qualified. But these will serve more to show that India was not buckling under Washington's pressure than signal any negotiating position on the pipeline itself. The US administration has asked India not to join the project.

Topping the list of the political and security deterrents is the US threat of war against Iran. While the outgoing US President George Bush has often spoken about military action against Iran, those seeking to lay a claim to his chair have also talked tough on the issue.

Hillary Clinton recently remarked: "I want the Iranians to know that if I am the president, we will attack Iran...In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

The government is uneasy about all these statements. "If there is a war and the US blows up the pipeline project, what will happen to our investment? It is not a matter of a few dollars