TEHRAN August 18(Shana)�A deputy petroleum minister says Iran views its neighbors as a priority for exporting natural gas.

Amir-Hossein Zamani-Nia, Iran's deputy oil minister for commerce and international affairs, said the country aims at forging its relationships with its neighbors by exporting gas to them.
"Exporting gas to the regional countries will deepen relations with our neighbors," he said.

Iraq is a potential customer for Iran's natural gas and once security is maintained in its soil, Iran's gas export will start to Iraqi cities, said Zamani-nia.

"Iraq can become a major consumer of Iran's gas," he said, adding Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan also need to import gas from Iran.

He further called for optimization of gas consumption domestically as it is a necessity for Iran, if the country is to reestablish its world status.

"Much of the recovered gas [in Iran] is being wasted in low-performance power plants for generation of electricity, or overworked pipelines or is being overused in the household sector," he said.

By SHANA