Iran: There is no NABUCCO without us

During the joint session of Iran and United Arab Emirates economic commission on December 8 Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki stated that NABUCCO would be impossible without Iran's participation, that country's news agency reports.

Commenting on the US position on Iran's participation, Mottaki expressed curiosity over whether Europeans granted Americans the right to make decisions on their pipelines. He also highlighted that Iran has the second largest reserves of natural gas after Russia and a NABUCCO project without Iran would mean an empty gas pipeline.

The NABUCCO project will cost Euro 8 billion and it is designed to pump Caspian gas to Europe as an alternative to Russian supply. The US wants Iraq to be involved in this project in order to bypass Iran as well as Russia.