Iraq has ability to repay Iran for war losses: lawmaker

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq can pay Iran’s war compensation, and we expect this to be implemented, a top official in the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) said on Saturday.

Speaking with ISNA, Iranian Parliament’s head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh’s demand comes days after Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of the Majlis and representative of Tehran, stated that Iraq owes Iran USD 1.1 trillion as reparations for the eight-year Iran-Iraq war.

“Iraq must pay compensation in accordance with paragraph 6 of UN Security Council resolution 598,” Falahatpisha stated, reiterating Sadeghi’s words without specifying a price.

“The Iraqis are ahead of Iran regarding the production and sale of oil,” he claimed, adding that “this means they have the ability to pay compensation to Iran.”

According to the official, “the Iraqi side has not completely denied they would pay the compensation.”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said 30 years after the end of the war with Iraq, “there are still unaddressed issues that are yet to be resolved.”

Iranian officials’ demands for reparations began a few days after the US announcement of renewed sanctions on the country, which is experiencing ongoing protests in response to high unemployment and inflation.

MP Sadeghi’s words, backed by vice-president Massoumeh Ebtekar, lamented Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s decision to abide by the re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

After Iran, the US sanctions will likely affect Iraq the most because of its heavy dependence on raw materials in addition to consumer goods and food coming from Iran.

Falahatpisha also pointed to Iraq’s April announcement to resume reparation payments to Kuwait—put on hold in October 2014 due to budgetary constraints as the country was fighting the Islamic State—for the destruction of the neighbor’s oil fields and facilities during the early 90s Gulf War.

“We expect that the payments of Iran also commence and [we expect to] begin holding negotiations,” he concluded.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany