Saturday, March 11 2006 10:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Recognising India's 'enormous'energy needs, the US has, nevertheless, warned it that Iran was not a reliable long-term supplier of fuel and advised it to turn its attention to other places in Central Asia.

"India has enormous energy needs and India is right to look out to the world to see how it can secure its energy future," Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said yesterday(Mar 10,2006) during a presentation to the 'Coalition for Partnership with India' which is being coordinated by US Chamber of Commerce.

"The only point we have been making is that we don't believe that Iran is a reliable partner in the long term. So our advice to our friends in India has been you really can't count on the Iranians to be reliable," he said when asked about the India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline and whether it will have any impact on the Indo-US ties.

To meet its energy needs, Burns said, "There are many other places India could look Kazakasthan, Turkmenistan, (and also methods like) clean coal technology and certainly the growing nuclear power sector."