Iran firm says India gas link plan undeterred by U.S.

ROME (Reuters) - India is pushing on with plans to import Iranian natural gas through a pipeline across Pakistan, undeterred by U.S. opposition to the south Asian country dealing with Tehran, a senior Iranian gas official said on Tuesday.

"At the end of this week we have a meeting with them," Nosratollah Sayfi, the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) told reporters on the sidelines of a gas conference in Rome.

"Every time we asked whether they were under pressure from the United States they said 'no, we will follow national opportunities.' And that is what they are doing."

A U.S. government official said in late October that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would urge Indian officials, during a trip to India, not to move forward with the project.

Washington has sought to discourage other countries from doing business with Iran, a country it suspects of wanting to develop nuclear weapons. It said in October that India would be better off securing its energy future by working with the United States to develop civilian nuclear energy.

Sayfi said NIGEC was currently meeting Pakistani and Indian officials over the operational agreement for the pipeline, and some disagreement between the two neighbours remained to be resolved.

Although India is concerned about transit fees that Pakistan wanted to levy on the gas and the worried over security of supply as the gas passes through a country with which has a tense relationship, Iran believes the project is on track.

"They had some negotiations about the cost of the transit and transport that Pakistan claimed," Sayfi said on the sidelines of the CWC World LNG summit. "That is why they want Iran to observe the meetings."

Iran denies its nuclear research is aimed at developing arms and a new U.S. intelligence report, issued on Monday, said Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.