U.S. threatens sanctions on Pakistan over Iran pipeline

 　　WASHINGTON, March 11 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Monday threatened sanctions against Pakistan as the South Asian nation pressed ahead with a gas pipeline¹ project with Iran.

　　"As I said, if this project actually goes forward, we have serious concerns that sanctions will be triggered," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters at a regular news briefing.

　　"We've been straight up with the Pakistanis about these concerns," she said.

　　Despite Washington's strong opposition², Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari inaugurated on Monday the 7.5-billion-U.S.-dollar project in Iran' s southeastern city of Chabahar, as Ahmadinejad said the West "has no right to obstruct³" the project which will link Iran's gas pipeline to that of Pakistan.

　　Washington and its allies expanded their sanctions last year to target Iran's oil exports in their efforts to force the Islamic republic to stop its uranium enrichment activities, which are suspected of being used to make nuclear weapons.

　　"As we've talked about here before, what the legislation calls for is for our partner countries to be making a concerted effort to reduce their dependence⁴ on Iranian oil over time so we are able to waive⁵ sanctions as we see reductions being made," Nuland said.

　　She said Washington is supporting "large scale" energy projects in Pakistan that will add some 900 megawatts to the power grid⁶ by the end of 2013, fueling an additional 2 million households.

1 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 obstruct   

v.阻隔，阻塞(道路、通道等)；n.阻碍物，障碍物

参考例句：

• He became still more dissatisfied with it and secretly did everything in his power to obstruct it.他对此更不满意，尽在暗里使绊子。
• The fallen trees obstruct the road.倒下的树将路堵住了。

4 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

5 waive   

vt.放弃，不坚持(规定、要求、权力等)

参考例句：

• I'll record to our habitat office waive our claim immediately.我立即写信给咱们的总公司提出放弃索赔。
• In view of the unusual circumstances,they agree to waive their requirement.鉴于特殊情况，他们同意放弃他们的要求。

6 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。