Iran says pipeline to Armenia won't affect Georgia or Azerbaijan

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mortaza Sarmadi said recently that a planned gas pipeline to Armenia would be built regardless of Tbilisi or Baku's stance on the project. The Iran-Armenia pipeline will not affect Georgia or Azerbaijan in any way, Sarmadi said.
He indicated, however, that Tehran was willing to consider sending gas to Georgia as well as Armenia. If in the future Georgia wishes to buy or serve as a transit corridor for Iranian gas, he said, the pipeline to Armenia might be extended.

Earlier in May, Mohammed Farkhad Koleyni, the Iranian ambassador to Armenia, said that Japanese, Chinese, Russian and European companies have offered to build the pipeline, while American, European and Asian banks are willing to provide some financing. Koleyni did not specifically name any of the parties involved. Earlier reports indicate, however, that Russian, Iranian and French companies have already signed on to the project, while Japan's Mitsubishi and China's Lambau have also made inquiries. French and Greek investors, meanwhile, have offered to help secure financing.
These expressions of interest have been made despite US government officials' declaration that Washington will not support the project. Armenia's Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said in April that Yerevan had the right to seek alternative sources of fuel and energy and would proceed without regard to the US administration's position. Oskanian said that the Armenian government had to take such measures since it was moving forward with plans to shut down one of the country's main sources of power, the Medzamor nuclear station.

The cost of constructing the 140 km, 700-mm pipeline is expected to run to $ 120 mm. The conduit would carry up to 1 bn cmpy of gas, and deliveries would be carried out between March and November of each year. Yerevan and Tehran first struck a deal on the project in 1992 and signed a follow-up accord last year.
The Iranians have already broken the ground for a part of the line, which will bring gas from southern Iran to the capital city and other parts of energy-starved Armenia. But an Iranian diplomat in Yerevan said earlier this year that work on the pipeline had been suspended because Armenia could not pay its share of the project costs.