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'U.S. concerned about Indo-Iran gas pipeline'
Rice said the United States has made its concerns about the pipeline clear to New Delhi.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday expressed concern about India's gas-pipeline project with Iran and said New Delhi should consider alternative ways to meet its energy needs.
Tehran, Islamabad and New Delhi are negotiating to build a pipeline to carry gas from Iran through Pakistan to India. Washington opposes other nations doing business with Iran as it struggles to get it to dismantle its nuclear program.
Rice said the United States has made its concerns about the pipeline clear to New Delhi but was also aware of India's rapidly increasing energy needs.
"Our views concerning Iran are well known ... but we have to look at a broader question on how India meets its energy needs ... we believe that a broader energy dialogue should be launched with India," Rice said at a joint news conference with Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh.
Last month, India's government decided to go ahead with its participation in the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) pipeline project. "Given the technological sophistication of our economy and of India's economy, we can also explore ways that new technologies can help us over the next decades to meet what are undoubtedly going to be burgeoning energy needs," Rice said.
On Wednesday, Singh reiterated New Delhi's support for the project and said India expects "Iran to fulfill all its obligations with regard to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty."
Rice later met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who welcomed the proposal of an energy security dialogue with the United States, an Indian official said.
India is also seeking civilian nuclear power technology from the United States, which became possible with a recent agreement between the two countries on high technology exchanges.
"If there are any concerns of possible proliferation issues ... then this forum can sort that out. There is an understanding of the need to use nuclear energy for our development purposes," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.
Worries over nuclear weapons proliferation prompted the United States to restrict for decades exports to India of so-called "dual use" technology items Washington believes could be diverted from civilian to military use. The United States also imposed sanctions following India's nuclear tests in May 1998.
The sanctions were lifted in the months after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, and the restrictions have been eased in recent years as relations between Washington and New Delhi have improved.
India imports more than 70 percent of the crude oil it consumes and demand for oil is rising because of its rapidly growing economy. India will import 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas in 2005.
Petroleum minister is scheduled to visit Teheran in June to secure a formal deal for the pipeline, which is expected to become operational by 2009.
