Iraqi PM confirms delegation will ask US for Iran sanctions exemption

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq will send a delegation to the United States to seek an agreement granting it exemptions from Washington’s imposition of sanctions on Tehran, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday.

His statement came one week after Reuters reported from anonymous sources in the Iraqi government that it was preparing a team to negotiate such a deal because the nation's economy is highly interlinked with, and dependent on, Iran's.

“We have requests for the American side, we have presented them, and a delegation will go to negotiate within that framework,” Abadi said, during his weekly press conference in Baghdad.

“We have presented a clear vision of what Iraq really needs. This includes Iranian (natural) gas, which is very important, as well as other trade and the electricity sector.”

On Aug. 6, the Trump administration announced the re-imposition of economic sanctions on Tehran which had been lifted when the 2015 nuclear deal was signed.

Washington has warned countries violating the sanctions, stating there will be serious consequences. This put Baghdad in a difficult though not unfamiliar position between two of its most crucial allies.

“We have had good promises initially but as you know the American situation is complicated; you do not deal with one person, there are several institutions,” Abadi added.

The Iraqi Premier also called the US’s economic embargoes on Iran “unilateral” and “oppressive,” adding that his country would not be “part of a blockade” due to its own bitter experience with international sanctions during the later years of Saddam Hussein’s rule.

An official from the US State Department told Reuters last week that Washington was discussing policies against Iran with different international partners.

“We have given the same message to all countries around the world that the President has said, the United States is fully committed to enforcing all of our sanctions," but added, “Iraq is a friend and important partner of the U.S, and we are committed to ensuring Iraqi stability and prosperity.”

Editing by John J. Catherine