U.S. Envoy: Georgia-Iran Long-Term Energy Ties Unacceptable

A long-term and strategic partnership between Georgia and Iran in energy issues is unacceptable for the United States, U.S. Ambassador to Georgia John Tefft said in an interview published by the Georgian weekly Kviris Palitra on November 27.

The U.S. diplomat said that Washington met Georgia?s short-term deal with Iran in January 2006 with understanding after Georgia had to import emergency gas supplies when Russian imports were cut off by explosions on two pipelines in Russia?s North Ossetian Republic.

He said that the U.S. position is guided by the UN Security Council resolution on Iran and the latter?s nuclear enrichment program.

No English transcript of the interview is available, but the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi has confirmed that the text published in the newspaper was valid.

During his visit to Georgia, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza said on November 17 that Georgia is currently in ?a difficult position? after Russia?s Gazprom said it will more than double gas price for Georgia.

?If Georgia, under such pressure, feels it has to look elsewhere for gas, looking first and foremost to Azerbaijan as a supplier, we understand that. If Azerbaijan is contracting the gas from a variety of suppliers, be it Russia, Iran or Azerbaijan, that?s a separate issue. While we are pursuing our policy toward Iran, we certainly don?t want Georgia or Armenia or any other country to be in a situation where it does not have energy for the winter,? Bryza said.

This statement was perceived by many in Georgia as Washington?s approval of Georgia?s energy cooperation with Iran.

But in the interview with Kviris Palitra, U.S. Ambassador John Tefft said that Bryza?s statement was misinterpreted.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian)