Turkey Delays A Major Natural Gas Deal With Iran As U.S. Mounts Pressure

August 16, 2008 3:13 p.m. EST

Ankara, Turkey (AHN) - Turkey decided to take more time to finalize a major natural gas deal with Iran as Washington continue to put pressure on Ankara to abandon the project, according to the sources on Saturday.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul expressed concerns over the safety of his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as he faced a 'threat' during his two-day visit to Istanbul, which ended on Friday.

While, Ankara said that the "preparations are not yet sufficient" and that the countries' energy ministers are instructed to frame a more detailed project.

Last year in July, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding that allowed Turkey to draw as much as 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the giant South Pars gas field.

The preliminary agreement with Tehran would also allow the transport of natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan to Europe via Iran and Turkey.

But the reports suggested that the authorities in Ankara attracted criticism from the West mainly due to its intention to invest in the Islamic republic.

Turkey has been involved in resolving the nuclear stand-off of the six major powers including the U.S. with Iran as it has increased its diplomatic ties with Tehran.

But the world powers are not pleased with the progress and the U.S. have threatened to impose new sanctions against Iran after Tehran failed to give a "clear answer" to the international community's offer of a deal on its nuclear program within the set two-week deadline.

But Iran's representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Asghar Soltanieh, has repeatedly denied of any agreement no deadline.

Turkey, who has Iran and Russia as its main natural gas suppliers, is a NATO ally and member and has also expressed interested to gain the membership in the European Union (EU).