PM Barzani: Kurdistan to deal with US-Iran sanctions 'within' Iraqi policy

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The Kurdistan Region will deal with new US sanctions on Iran within the framework and policy of Iraq, said the top Kurdish official on Tuesday.

"Until now, the sanctions are not clear for us in the Kurdistan Region. I believe they are not clear to them, yet, either," Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani said in response to a question asked by Kurdistan 24 correspondent Aras Ahmed during a press conference.

"But certainly, the Kurdistan Region's steps will be within the policies and position of Iraq,” he continued. “We have asked the US and Baghdad to give us more clarifications about that.”

He mentioned that the KRG had asked the US to send a delegation to explain what exactly should and should not be done in order to avoid being in violation of provisions within the economic sanctions.

On Monday, the Trump administration announced the first stage of the re-imposition of the economic sanctions on Iran that had ended with the 2015 nuclear deal. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump tweeted, "Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States."

The initial set of sanctions went into effect at midnight on Monday. They include a prohibition on Iran’s acquisition and use of US dollars, trade in gold and other metals, as well as the import into the US of Iranian carpets and pistachios.

"We do not want to violate those sanctions; we just want to receive further clarifications of what lies under those embargoes," Barzani added, and pointed out that provinces in central and southern Iraq receive 55 - 60 percent of their electricity from Iran in addition to significant gas imports. 

Editing by John J. Catherine