TEHRAN, May 12 (UPI) -- Royal Dutch Shell formally announced it is leaving the Iran South Pars project.

The firm was rumored to be thinking about pulling out of the planned gas deal, allegedly because of pressure from U.S. politicians to divest from Iran. The United States has imposed sanctions in an effort to punish the country for allegedly running a nuclear weapons program, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The South Pars deal was signed in 2002 for the development of a gas field in southern Iran. The planned project would have seen the gas cooled and processed into liquid natural gas for transport in tankers.

Iran will now have to find a new partner for the project from among countries where U.S. political influence is more limited, such as Russia, India and China. Companies from those countries, like Gazprom, however, have less experience with LNG projects than Shell.