Tehran Receives $1.6 Bln in Gas Debt from Iraq

(Asharq Al-Awsat)
(Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Tehran Receives $1.6 Bln in Gas Debt from Iraq

(Asharq Al-Awsat)
(Asharq Al-Awsat)

Iran said on Thursday it has received $1.6 billion from Iraq to settle part of the debts it has sought from its neighbor since 2020 for the supply of gas.

“In light of the active energy diplomacy, and after months of negotiations, $1.6 billion in arrears... for gas exports to Iraq have been received,” Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji tweeted, Tasnim news agency reported.

“Since the beginning of the year, compared to 2021, the country's gas export volume has increased by 25% and the collection of revenues has also increased by 90%,” Owji added. The Iranian new year begins on March 21.

Iraq’s Electricity Ministry spokesman Ahmed Moussa said the government has started paying off its debts for gas imports from Iran by borrowing from the Trade Bank of Iraq, adding that the Ministry of Finance deposited the money in the Credit Fund.

“We are still relying on Emergency Support Law to repay our dues,” Tasnim quoted Moussa as saying.

Baghdad had been scheduled to pay that amount to Tehran before June.

The debt dates back to 2020, but payment was stalled amid sanctions against Iran by the United States.

Iran’s deputy oil minister, Majid Chegeni, said last month that an agreement had been reached with Iraq for it to pay $1.6 billion in arrears by the end of May.

Despite its immense oil and gas reserves, Iraq remains dependent on imports to meet energy needs.

Iran provides a third of Iraq’s gas and electricity needs, but supplies are regularly cut or reduced, aggravating shortages caused by daily load shedding.

Separately, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on Thursday that Iranian authorities have seized a vessel carrying 90,000 liters of smuggled fuel in the waters around Kish Island in the Gulf.

The captain and five other crew members were issued with criminal warrants and have been detained, IRNA added.

Iran, which has some of the world’s cheapest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and the fall of its currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighboring states and by sea to Gulf Arab countries.



King Charles Hosts Macron in First European State Visit to UK Since Brexit

France's President Emmanuel Macron, Britain's King Charles III, Britain's Queen Camilla and Brigitte Macron stand during a ceremonial welcome at Windsor Castle, in Windsor west of London, on July 8, 2025, on the first day of a three-day state visit to Britain. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
France's President Emmanuel Macron, Britain's King Charles III, Britain's Queen Camilla and Brigitte Macron stand during a ceremonial welcome at Windsor Castle, in Windsor west of London, on July 8, 2025, on the first day of a three-day state visit to Britain. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
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King Charles Hosts Macron in First European State Visit to UK Since Brexit

France's President Emmanuel Macron, Britain's King Charles III, Britain's Queen Camilla and Brigitte Macron stand during a ceremonial welcome at Windsor Castle, in Windsor west of London, on July 8, 2025, on the first day of a three-day state visit to Britain. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
France's President Emmanuel Macron, Britain's King Charles III, Britain's Queen Camilla and Brigitte Macron stand during a ceremonial welcome at Windsor Castle, in Windsor west of London, on July 8, 2025, on the first day of a three-day state visit to Britain. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS

King Charles welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to Britain on Tuesday for the first state visit by a European leader since Brexit, their warm greeting symbolising the return of closer ties between the two countries.

Macron, treated to a British state visit for the first time, enjoys a strong personal relationship with the king, and there were smiles as the pair met alongside their wives, Brigitte and Queen Camilla, and watched over by soldiers on horseback, in ceremonial uniform of blue tunics and scarlet plumes.

Charles is expected to emphasise "the multitude of complex threats" both countries face in a speech he will deliver at a state dinner at Windsor Castle later, while Macron posted on X on his arrival that "there is so much we can build together".

Kicking off the trip in that spirit, the two countries jointly announced that French nuclear energy utility EDF would invest £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) in a project to build a nuclear power station in eastern England.

In Windsor, accompanied by heir to the throne Prince William and his wife Princess Catherine, the group climbed into several horse-drawn carriages for a procession which finished in the medieval castle's courtyard, west of London.

Since Prime Minister Keir Starmer's centre-left Labour Party swept back to power last year, Britain has been trying to reset ties with its European allies, and Charles will help set the tone of Macron's visit before the political talks get underway.

"Our two nations share not only values, but also the tireless determination to act on them in the world," the 76-year-old monarch, who is still undergoing treatment for cancer, will say at the banquet later.

While Macron's three-day trip is filled with talks on economic issues and foreign affairs, the first day of the state visit, which comes 16 years after the late Queen Elizabeth hosted then French president Nicolas Sarkozy, is largely focused on pageantry, and heavy in symbolism.

The monarch's right eye was noticeably red when he met Macron. A Buckingham Palace source said he had suffered a burst blood vessel in one eye which was unrelated to any other health condition

Macron is due to address the British parliament in central London later on Tuesday before heading back to Windsor Castle for the state dinner, where he and the king will speak before some 150 guests.

"It's wonderful that we're going down the path of welcoming European leaders once again," Alastair King, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, who will host a banquet in Macron's honour on Wednesday, told Reuters.

MIGRANTS DEAL

Later in his trip, Macron and Starmer's discussions will focus on a range of issues, including how to stop people-smuggling and improve economic and defence ties at a time when the United States is retrenching from its traditional role as a defender of European security.

Although there have been tensions over the shape of post-Brexit ties and how to stop asylum seekers from crossing the Channel in small boats, Britain and France have been working closely together to create a planned military force to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with Russia.

British officials are hoping that Macron will agree to a pilot of an asylum seekers' returns deal. This would involve Britain deporting one asylum seeker to France in exchange for another with a legitimate case to be in Britain, thereby disrupting the business model of people-smuggling gangs.

A record number of asylum seekers have arrived in Britain on small boats from France in the first six months of this year.

Starmer, whose party is trailing behind Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform UK party in the polls, is under pressure to come up with a solution.

France has previously refused to sign up to such an agreement, saying Britain should negotiate an arrangement with all EU countries.