Rice downplays sanctions on Iran pipeline plan

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is leaning away from possible sanctions against Pakistan or India for their plan to build a $4 billion pipeline to ship natural gas from Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday.

While Rice did not definitively rule out sanctions against India and Pakistan, she told a news briefing, "I think we are sharing our concerns in a constructive way with them, not in a negative way."

On a recent trip to Asia, Rice told India that the United States had concerns over the proposed Iranian pipeline deal. The concerns are reported to stem from U.S. opposition to Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's natural gas reserves are second only to Russia in size.

The United States has engaged in an "energy dialogue with the Indians so that we can help to talk about different forms of energy supply, because we fully understand that they need to find it," Rice said on Thursday.

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more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050616/india_nm/india_206257/nc:731;_