Iran's main gas pipeline hit by sabotage, oil minister says

"We anticipated such acts of sabotage around the anniversary of the Iranian revolution (Feb 11) and quickly changed the configuration of the transmission network to counter the enemy's objective to cause gas outages in major provinces," he added. Only villages near the damaged pipeline are experiencing gas outages, which will be fixed later today, according to the oil minister.

Two explosions along Iran's main south-north gas pipeline network were caused by "terrorist acts of sabotage", Oil Minister Javad Owji said on Wednesday.

"This terrorist act of sabotage occurred at 1 a.m. (9.30 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday morning in the network of national gas transmission pipelines in two regions of the country," Owji told state TV. "We anticipated such acts of sabotage around the anniversary of the Iranian revolution (Feb 11) and quickly changed the configuration of the transmission network to counter the enemy's objective to cause gas outages in major provinces," he added.

Only villages near the damaged pipeline are experiencing gas outages, which will be fixed later today, according to the oil minister. The dispatching director of the National Iranian Gas Company denied earlier reports that the incident caused gas cuts to industries and offices in some provinces, explaining that these temporary restrictions were planned ahead for maintenance.

Owji pointed to a similar incident which took place on Feb 11. 2011, which he said was an act of sabotage which caused temporary gas outages in four different regions.