Saturday, March 4 2006 20:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: President George W Bush today (Mar 04 2006) said US has no problem with India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline but with Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"Our beef with Iran is not the pipeline. Our beef with Iran is the fact that they want to develop nuclear weapons. I believe a nuclear weapon in the hands of the Iranians would be very dangerous for all of us. It would endanger world peace," he told a joint press conference here.

"So we are working very hard to convince the Iranians to get rid of their nuclear ambitions," Bush, standing by the side of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, said.

"Pakistan has got the energy needs to meet the growing economy. He (Musharraf) explained the natural gas situation in the country. We understand you need to get natural gas, that is fine," he said.

Washington has been unwilling to share nuclear technology with Pakistan in the backdrop of the clandestine export of nuclear technology by its top nuclear scientist A Q Khan.

Bush said US Secretary of Energy Sam Barmier would visit Pakistan separately to discuss Pakistan's needs in this regard. It is expected that Barmier would look for assisting Pakistan in exploring natural gas resources within Pakistan.

Musharraf recently said that US should provide alternative sources of energy to Pakistan if Islamabad has to give up the pipeline.