Tehran is considering several gas delivery routes to Europe after Western sanctions on the country are lifted.
“Iran is considering several routes to deliver gas to Europe, possibly around five or six routes,” Azizollah Ramezani, head of the National Iranian Gas Company’s liaison office told RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.
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According to the official, the routes could go via Turkey, the Black Sea, Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea.
“But these routes need to be studied according to norms, and [we need to] study the economic cost efficiency to choose the best route. The study has started because research may be carried out at any time regardless of sanctions, but this depends on the client: Europe. Europe is expecting sanctions to be lifted and then they will start negotiations, and after that they can sign an agreement with Iran,” Ramezani said.
The Iranian official said the country may use the Turkish Stream gas pipeline currently being developed by Russia, although this has not yet been discussed.
“This is possible. There haven’t been any negotiations on this yet, but it could be a good idea to begin talks because this point, where the Russian pipeline and the Turkish pipeline go to Europe, may also be a point where Iranian gas pipelines may be reached by Europe,” Ramezani said, speaking on the sidelines of a gas congress in Paris.
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The UN Security Council, the US, the EU and many other countries and organizations had imposed several rounds of sanctions against Iran due to its controversial nuclear program.
Iran and international powers reached solutions on key parameters of the program following talks in Switzerland in April. The deal has created the basis for a future comprehensive nuclear agreement, which, it is expected, is to be concluded by a June 30 deadline.