It looks like the gas conflict between Turkmenistan and Iran which lasted for over 3 months is drawing to an end. The Reuters Agency informed on April 19 that Tehran is ready to pay a higher price for the Turkmen gas.

If Turkmenistan wants a logical increase in the price of gas it is okay with Iran because this country is selling its gas to Russia with a new price,” the Fars News Agency quoted Ali Kordan, vice-minister at Iran’s Oil Ministry, as saying.

Even though the statement made by the representative of Iran could be understood rather as a bid for negotiations with Ashgabat or as an acknowledgement that such negotiations are underway, it is undoubtedly a breakthrough in the tense mutual relations. Turkmenistan withheld gas supplies at the end of December of 2007 justifying it with technical problems, while the Iranians accused Ashgabat of trying to blackmail Tehran to accept higher prices. This has led to a standstill in mutual relations periodically broken by angry statements of the Iranian side.

Iran must be very eager for the Turkmen gas, for they decided to make the conciliatory step first. We can now expect several weeks of negotiations which will probably lead to the price being settled at around 150 USD.

The statement made by the Iranian minister can be considered as another success of Turkmenistan in the past year. The rise in the price of gas sold to Iran is just one of the range of other achievements, e.g.: the beginning of the construction of the gas pipeline to China, negotiating a higher price for gas with the Gazprom, establishing dialogue with the West, etc. Assertiveness in foreign politics pays off, especially if gas is at stake. There is just one thing I am wondering about: why don’t the official Turkmen Internet sites boast about it?