A senior Iranian MP on Tuesday said the Islamic republic is going to file an official complaint against Turkmenistan in court for cutting gas supplies, the state news agency IRNA reported.
"The foreign and oil ministries are following up on a complaint against Turkmenistan in international courts for halting gas exports to Iran," said Kamal Daneshyar, head of parliament's energy commission.
"Although Iran has not yet officially submitted a complaint, it is going to do so," he said, adding that Turkmenistan, which has cited technical problems for the halt, wanted to double the price.
He did not specify in what legal structure the protest would be filed.
Iran's gas imports from Turkmenistan have been shut off for the past two weeks, compounding the effects of a consumption crunch in Iran that has caused major gas cuts in the north of the country during record low temperatures. Turkmenistan's foreign ministry has reportedly said that necessary repairs to the pipeline were delayed as Tehran had not been paying the bills for the gas on time.
Iranian government has denied falling behind on payments. "There is not a question of debt but implementing the contract. They have new demands regarding the price and some technical issues," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.
The foreign ministry said Iran was ready to help with the repairs, which it said could be completed within three days. "As Turkmenistan has cited technical problems for halting gas exports to Iran, linking the issue to bill payments contradicts the agreement and good neighbourly relations and it is regrettable," it said in a statement.
Turkmenistan normally exports between 20 to 23 million cubic metres (700 million to 805 million cubic feet) of gas daily to Iran - amounting to around five percent of the Islamic republic's total consumption. Several MPs have criticised the Iranian government for its handling of the crisis, which has seen dozens of factories shut and left people in both cities and remote villages with little or no heating.
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