Iran has decided to extend the deadline for Pakistan to complete its part of a joint gas pipeline project by another 180 days, moving the new deadline to September 2024.
Iran has cautioned Pakistan that if the deadline is missed and the matter goes to international arbitration, it could face a hefty penalty of $18 billion.
To avoid any conflicts and ensure the project’s completion before the new deadline, Iran has offered to send a team comprised of legal and technical experts to Pakistan.
This team is geared towards a cooperative solution and is set to arrive in Pakistan during the second week of February 2024.
The goal is to come up with a practical plan to revive the stalled project. The group from Iran will include specialists in various fields such as international law, legal frameworks, and engineering.
The demand from Iran follows its previous notification to Pakistan in late 2022, where it asked Pakistan to construct its section of the pipeline by early 2024 or risk paying the $18 billion penalty. Before this, Tehran had informed Islamabad back in February 2019 about its intention to take legal action for not building the pipeline as originally agreed upon.
Pakistan, for its part, has insisted that due to American sanctions on Iran, it has been unable to proceed with the project. However, Iran does not accept this reasoning, arguing that the U.S. sanctions should not prevent the project’s completion.
