TEHRAN, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan is not cooperating on the construction of a much-delayed pipeline to pump natural gas from Iran, Iran's Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said here on Tuesday.

"Pakistan has been falling short and is not cooperating on the construction of the pipeline," Press TV quoted Zangeneh as saying.

"It is likely that the United States and Saudi Arabia have been doing some sort of sabotage," the minister said.

The gas project, dubbed the "peace pipeline," was initially designed to pass through Pakistan into India but New Delhi quit the project in 2009.

The 7-billion U.S. dollar project was conceived in the 1990s to connect Iran's giant South Pars gas field to the subcontinent.

Tehran has completed work on its side of the pipeline up to the border of Pakistan and is ready to deliver the gas but Islamabad has yet to start construction of the line on its territory.