Reports noted that India is willing to rejoin the IPI gas pipeline project. This was noted by the Additional Secretary of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Sudhir Bhargava. During the meeting with Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International and Commercial Affairs, Ahmad Khaledi, he stated, “India welcomes boosting oil and gas ties with Iran.” The IPI gas pipeline is a projected 2,775-kilometer pipeline to deliver natural gas from Iran to Pakistan and India. The three countries conceptualized the Peace Pipeline project in the 1990s to help boost peace and security in the region. Due to the edgy India-Pakistan relations, New Delhi stepped back from the later stages of negotiations, although it has never formally withdrawn from the project.1

• 1. “India reiterates interest in IPI,” Tehran Times, December 30, 2010, at http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=233186