TEHRAN, YJC. Jilani says his country is hoping Iran would strike a deal with world powers so that his country would benefit from relations with Tehran.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warning in his Tuesday address to Congress that Iran’s neighbors feared the potential nuclear agreement now being negotiated by the Obama administration and its international partners, at least one of those neighbors said it is rooting strongly that a deal can be struck.
A deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programs and ease economic
sanctions on Tehran would be seen as "extremely positive” by Pakistan and many
other countries in the region, Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. Jalil Abbas
Jilani told a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor just an hour
before the Israeli leader began speaking on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Jilani said a number of bilateral projects with Iran,
including a major natural gas pipeline, have had to be put on hold because of
the international sanctions targeting Tehran, and could be quickly revived if
the nuclear deal eases the restrictions on doing business with Tehran.
"Our region has seen
a lot of tension in the last several years,” Mr. Jilani said, noting that
Pakistan shares a nearly 600-mile border with Iran. "Nobody can afford many
more new tensions.”
The ambassador said there were "tremendous opportunities for
economic cooperation” between Iran and Pakistan, and that ending Iran’s
diplomatic isolation would also "fit well with regional connectivity” linking
South Asia to markets in the Middle East.
Iran and Pakistan had originally hoped to inaugurate the
1,700-mile pipeline to transport Iranian natural gas by the end of 2014, but
the sanctions and pressure by the Obama administration have repeatedly led
Islamabad to delay. India had originally expressed interest in receiving gas
from the pipeline but dropped out in 2009 in the face of opposition from
Washington.
The Washington Times