Congressmen call on Biden administration to support Erbil in energy disputes with Baghdad
WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – Three members of the House of Representatives sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken a letter calling on the Biden administration to support the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) against pressure to curtail energy production that is coming from Iran and the pro-Iranian parities in Baghdad.
The letter was signed by Rep. Michael Waltz (R, Florida), along with Rep. Dina Titus (D, Nevada) and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R, Colorado.)
Waltz is “a combat-decorated Green Beret,” as his website explains, who served multiple tours in Afghanistan and the Middle East. He sits on the House Armed Services Committee, as does Lamborn. Titus is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The bipartisan letter closely resembles a bipartisan letter from the most senior Democratic and Republican senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—its chairman, Robert Menendez (D, New Jersey) and its ranking member, James Risch (Idaho).
The administration response has, so far, been minimal. It has other priorities. The State Department remains committed to a “one-Iraq” policy, while its focus on reviving the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal inhibits it from taking a tough stance toward Iran on any issue.
Congressional Letter: “Remarkable” Success of Kurdistan’s Region’s “Economic Transformation”
The letter from the three Congressmen to Blinken described the “remarkable” success of the Kurdistan Region’s “economic transformation” over the past 15 years, as the region’s oil production rose from zero to 450,000 barrels per day in that time.
That growth has been aided by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, which has provided “$300 million to financing American companies to help develop this energy future for the Kurdistan Region,” the three representatives wrote.
The Congressmen also noted the geo-strategic importance of the Kurdistan Region’s energy production. “As a result of these investments, the KRG’s gas resources could be poised to help both Iraq and eventually wean Turkey and southern Europe off Russian and Iranian gas supplies, especially as we maintain sanctions against Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Iranian Assaults on the Energy Infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region
The Congressional letter explained that a major target of Iran’s attacks in the Kurdistan Region has been oil infrastructure. “Iran, recognizing this threat to their foreign energy markets, earlier this year fired rockets into Erbil, destroying the home of Kurdistan’s most prominent oil businessman,” the Congressmen wrote. “Furthermore, Iranian-backed sectarian militias took a Kurdish refinery offline and launched at least five separate rocket and drone attacks against Kurdish oil infrastructure.”
The Biden administration has, several times, condemned the attacks on oil facilities in the Kurdistan Region—but it has not attributed those attacks to any party in particular. Thus, it has never acknowledged Iran’s responsibility or taken action to hold Iran accountable for them. So it should be little surprise that the attacks have continued.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court—suborned by Iran!
The Congressmen noted that last February, “The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court [FSC] ruled the KRG’s oil and gas law to be unconstitutional” and directed “the KRG to align their operations with federal directives,” a decision the KRG is contesting.
Soon afterwards, Prof. Brendan O’Leary, of the University of Pennsylvania, explained that Iraq’s so-called Supreme Court was itself illegal, as it was not formed in accord with the post-Saddam constitution. “The constitution required such a court to come into existence with a two-thirds resolution, in a law by the Council of Representatives,” O’Leary stated, but “that has not happened.”
Read More: KRG should resist Iraqi court's ruling on its oil and gas sector: Prof. Brendan O'Leary
Even by that point, as it later emerged, Iran had suborned the FSC. It used Iraq’s pro-Iranian political parties to do so, as Michael Knights, a scholar at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, recently explained.
Nuri al-Maliki was key to the effort. The original purpose was to prevent Muqtada al-Sadr, who won a plurality of votes in the Oct. 2021 elections, from forming a government. But that objective was soon broadened to undermining the Kurdistan Region, producing February’s ruling on Kurdish oil production
In their letter to Blinken, the Congressmen noted that the Baghdad government “has unevenly enforced the court’s decision, cancelling 2 American and 2 European fuel contracts with the KRG.” By contrast, they stated, “Baghdad has not cancelled the contracts the KRG signed with Russian or Chinese firms.”
“We are concerned that these actions risk destabilizing Iraq, raising tensions in the region, and further disrupting international oil markets,” they continued. “It is thus in America’s national security interests to facilitate a resolution to this dispute between the Iraqi government and the KRG.”
The letter urged the State Department “to help resolve this dispute, ensuring the Kurdistan Region’s autonomy and economic rights, and ensuring Iraq will continue to be a multi-ethnic secular republic, free from Iranian interference.”
Pro Forma Response from the State Department
In many respects, the letter to Blinken from the three Representatives echoed the letter sent to Blinken on Monday from the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), Robert Menendez, and its Ranking Member, James Risch.
As the senators noted, “The Iraqi Ministry of Oil’s selective application of the Supreme Court ruling to certain U.S. companies, taken together with Iranian attacks on Iraq’s energy infrastructure, harms Iraq’s economic viability.”
Asked about that letter, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price had little by way of serious response. The SFRC has a supervisory role over the State Department, and it cannot simply ignore the committee.
However, Price would not acknowledge that any serious problem existed which required more vigorous State Department action, while the remarks he did make were perfunctory and pro forma.
“We have been and we encourage the parties to determine a way forward that supports existing and future investment and advances the interests of the Iraqi people, including those of the Kurdistan Region,” Price said on Wednesday. “We have been engaging with the central government in Baghdad. We have been engaging with our partners in the Kurdistan region as well.”
Nothing Price said suggested that the State Department saw a serious problem or planned to modify in any significant way its current policies.
Rather, the passion of senior State Department officials in the region revolves around restoring the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. That causes them to be restrained in any criticism of Iran, while the Department’s long-standing commitment to a one-Iraq policy leads them to subordinate Erbil to Baghdad.