Iraq on Saturday agreed to pay about $2.76 billion in gas and electricity debt to Iran after receiving a sanctions waiver from the United States.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein was given the clearance during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the Riyadh Conference on Thursday, a senior Iraqi foreign ministry official said, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters.
Due to decades of conflict and sanctions, Iraq is dependent on imports from Iran for a lot of its gas needs.
However, US sanctions on Iranian oil and gas have hampered Iraq’s payments for imports, putting it in heavy arrears and leading Iran to retaliate by cutting gas flows regularly.
Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Al-Sahhaf said in a brief statement that Hussein had made progress “regarding financial dues between Iraq and Iran during his discussion with his American counterpart in Riyadh” when asked about the funds.
He did not give further details.
According to the Ministry’s Twitter post, Hussein “conducted continuous dialogues with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi for the same purpose.”
Meanwhile, Iraq’s news agency, INA, quoted the media advisor to the Prime
Minister, Diaa al-Nasseri, as saying that Iraq had released a total of 1.5 billion euros of Iranian funds and is preparing to release an additional 1 billion euros.
Later, Yahya Al-e Eshaq, head of the Iran-Iraq chamber of commerce, was quoted by Iranian news agencies as saying that “Part of Iran’s blocked funds in Iraq has been earmarked for haj pilgrims and portions have been used for basic goods.”
He added that it will definitely have a positive impact on the markets because the demands of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) will be met and basic goods needed in the country have been purchased using the assets.
