Energy-hungry Pakistan says it will speed up efforts to build a gas pipeline from Iran despite US opposition to the project.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Thursday that construction in Iran was almost complete and that he expected Pakistan to finish its section by 2014.

Pakistan Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh said Pakistan was committed to the project and "efforts would be made to accelerate its progress."

Pakistan is desperately short of energy, but the proposed pipeline with Iran could cause problems with the United States, which has warned it could violate sanctions imposed on Tehran over its alleged nuclear weapons program.

The pipeline project was first proposed in the 1990s, but has been plagued by delays.