On Feb. 21, Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji came out blaming Israel for an attack on one of Iran’s main natural gas pipelines last week. The “explosion of the gas pipeline was an Israeli plot,” Owji was quoted as saying by the Washington Post: “The enemy intended to disturb gas service in the provinces and put people’s gas distribution at risk.” Owji has apparently not provided any evidence to support the claim.
Called the IGAT-2, the pipeline runs 680 km from Iran’s western Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province northward, terminating near Tehran. Its capacity is greater than 32 billion cubic meters/year of gas. Following the explosions on Feb. 14, the company which runs the network had claimed it was a sabotage, according to RT.
Tensions are already running high throughout the region, which this event will only serve to increase.
