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Iran warns atomic opponents trade ties may suffer | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Tuesday it would reconsider economic ties with countries that voted against it at last week”s board meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Tehran was particularly surprised by the vote against it from India, which is seeking to import massive volumes of gas from the Islamic Republic.

&#34India”s vote came as a great surprise to us,&#34 he told reporters at a weekly news conference.

&#34We will reconsider our economic cooperation with those countries that voted against us,&#34 he added.

Iran, the world”s second biggest holder of natural gas, has signed huge prospective deals to export liquefied natural gas to India and has been pursuing plans to build a pipeline to India overland via Pakistan.

Japan, which also voted against Iran, is pursuing a giant investment project at Azadegan in southwest Iran, hailed as one of the world”s largest untapped oilfields.