Tbilisi previously bought gas from the Islamic republic under a temporary agreement following explosions in January 2006 on trunk pipelines in Georgia, which caused a suspension in gas supplies from the country's sole supplier, Russia.
Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, responding to a journalist's question on the United States' opposition to Georgian-Iranian energy cooperation, said: "We will buy gas from Iran, there is no other option. Moreover, we will exchange Iranian gas for our electricity."
The U.S. ambassador to Georgia, John Tefft, said earlier on Monday his country is against long-term strategic cooperation between Georgia and Iran in natural gas deliveries.
Potential Georgian dependence on Iranian gas is a source of concern for the United States, a close ally of Georgia but a strong opponent of the Iranian regime, which it, along with many other countries, accuses of pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program under the guise of civilian nuclear power development.
Georgian energy security was dealt a further blow earlier in November when Russia said it may cut off gas supplies its South Caucasus neighbor if it fails to agree to a substantial price rise for 2007.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in mid-November that his country will not buy Russian natural gas at $230 per 1,000 cubic meters because it is not a fair market price at a time when some of Georgia's neighbors are paying $65 and $110 in real terms.
The president said the price was politically motivated and that the move amounts to an economic blockade of Georgia, which now buys all its gas from Russian energy giant Gazprom.
