As Pepe Escobar at Asia Times explains, " A silent, reptilian war had been going on for years between the US-favored Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline and its rival, the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, also known as the "peace pipeline". This past weekend, a winner emerged. And it's none of the above: instead, it's the 2,100-kilometer, US$7.5 billion IP (the Iran-Pakistan pipeline), with no India attached."
The deal means that Iran will sell gas from its mega South Pars fields to Pakistan for the next 25 years. The last 250 km of a 900-km pipeline stretch in Iran between Asalouyeh and Iranshahr, near the border with Pakistan, still needs to be built. The whole IP pipeline should be operational by 2014.
Only in transit fees, Pakistan could collect as much as $500 million a year. India may become the ultimate recipient of Iranian gas, or else China has shown interest.
The pipeline agreement is a victory for China and Russia, and Asia in general. First, Asia integrates its energy resources towards the formation of an "Asian Energy Grid" and denies those resources to the West. Second, China can possibly ensure a significant supply of gas to itself. Third, Russia is happy to see Iranian going to Asia and not Europe, as this increases Europe's dependence on Russia gas. If Iran's gas goes to Europe, then Europe would diversify its gas imports and reduce its dependence on Russia, which would be a disadvantage for Moscow.
So all this is bad news for the US, who wants to isolate Iran, penetrate the Eurasian continent, and capture Pakistan as an ally.
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