Pipeline explosion halts Iran’s gas flow to Turkey

Tehran, March 31 (IANS) Iran’s gas flow to Turkey was halted on Tuesday because of an explosion in a pipeline near country’s border inside Turkey, an energy official said here on Tuesday.

“This morning, terrorists attacked a gas pipeline inside Turkey near Iran’s Bazargan border with Turkey,” Xinhua news agency quoted Mehdi Jamshidi Dana, dispatching director of National Iranian Gas Company, as saying on state TV.

The incident took place at around 6.50 a.m. on Tuesday, he said, adding following the blast, “gas flow was halted”.

“The pipeline has exploded several times in the past. It is likely that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group is behind the blast because of its disputes with Turkey’s government,” Jamshidi told official IRNA news agency.

Having been blacklisted by the European Union, the US and Turkey as a terrorist group, the PKK has been in bloody conflicts with the Ankara government for more than two decades.

Iran’s pipeline carries around 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey annually.

–IANS

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