ANKARA, Turkey, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Iran needs a viable export market for its lucrative gas reserves, making it a candidate as a supplier for the Nabucco pipeline, Turkish officials said.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told Turkish-language media that, with some of the largest gas reserves in the world, there should be no reason not to include Iran as a supplier for the $10.3 billion Nabucco pipeline, Iranian broadcaster Press TV reports.

"Just as the needs of consumer countries are important, it is also the supplier countries' right to get their resources to the consumer," he said. "So there seems to be no reason not to exclude Iran's gas supply from the market."

Ankara welcomed regional partners and international supporters for the Nabucco gas pipeline to Europe, overseeing the July signing of a major intergovernmental agreement on the project.

Europe hopes to diversify an energy sector dependent on Russian natural gas with Nabucco, which could bring gas from energy-rich Caspian states to European markets.

Despite political support for the project, financial concerns and a lack of firm commitments from supplier nations continue to plague development.

Washington, a Nabucco backer, has said it objects to Iranian participation in the project as it would bring substantial economic benefits to a sanction-laden Tehran.

National Iranian Gas Co. Director Reza Kasaeizadeh told the Fars News Agency, however, that Iran's preference was to export its gas through the Persian Pipeline, a project planned to ship Iranian gas to European markets through Turkey.

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