US Congressmen blast Iraq Oil Minister for being pro-Iranian, anti-Kurdish

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) –  Three Republican Congressmen, all members of the House Armed Services Committee, called on President Joe Biden in a letter on Wednesday not to deal with Iraq’s Oil Minister and Acting Minister of Finance, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, who is visiting Washington this week, as head of an Iraqi delegation attending an annual meeting of the World Bank.

The reasons cited by the three representatives—Jim Banks (R, Indiana), Michael Waltz (R, Florida), and Joe Wilson (R, South Carolina)—for not dealing with Ismail amount to the charge that he acts in the interests of, and in the service of, the Iranian regime.

That includes Ismail’s execution of measures against the Kurdistan Region, which are consistent with Iran’s aim of undermining the Region’s peace and stability.

Indeed, a major Kurdish figure was just in Washington for the purpose, in part, of warning the Biden administration about precisely such developments.

Hoshyar Zebari, now a senior official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is a long-experienced political figure, who served as Iraq’s first post-Saddam Foreign Minister (2003-2014) and then as Iraqi Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.

In Washington, Zebari explained that Iraq’s Oil Ministry was centrally involved in Iranian-led efforts to undermine the Kurdistan Region.

A great deal of pressure is being exerted from inside and outside Iraq on the Kurdistan Region, and “our oil and gas sector is the main target,” Zebari told Kurdistan 24, as his visit to the US capitol drew to an end.

Read More: Hoshyar Zebari: Iraq is in crisis and the US must be more engaged

“They are using the oil ministry to issue threats against the CEOs of international companies, against service companies, against oil buyers to deter them from dealing directly with the KRG,” Zebari said.

Iraqi Officials Help Iran Evade Sanctions, Aid its Terror Campaign

As the Congressmen warned Biden in their letter, “Key Iraqi officials, and its oil sector, continue to play an instrumental role in Iran’s ability to evade and weather economic sanctions and to advance its regional terrorism campaign.”

Specifically, they charged that under Ismail, Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) has a “track record of business dealings” with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and “Iranian-backed terrorist organizations Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) and Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH.)”

Ismail has also “facilitated illegal oil exports on behalf of Iran” by “blending Iranian oil with Iraqi oil for the purpose of obscuring the Iranian origin,” they stated.

The Congressmen cited a Wall Street Journal report that detailed “how a commercial affiliate of SOMO and owned by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, Al-Iraqia Shipping Services and Oil Trading” was used for the “illicit and sanctions evading oil blending practices.”

Corruption of Iraqi Oil Minister—and transfer of US dollars to terrorists

Ismail is also “suspected of widescale corruption” by accepting “bribes for the award of contracts and oil operations in Iraq,” the Congressmen wrote.

A court in Iraq—the al-Karkh Investigation court—has charged Ismail with 29 corruption cases, they said, while “he is also suspected of accepting bribes from the IRGC Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and international oil companies.”

Moreover, as Acting Finance Minister, Ismail oversees the Central Bank’s receipt of US dollar transfers. The Ministry of Finance, in turn, funds the Popular Mobilization Forces, which include “three US-designated terrorist groups (AAH, KH, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba),” they wrote.

Questions for Biden to Answer

The letter ended with a series of questions for which the Congressmen asked the White House to provide answers by 5:00 PM on Oct. 28.

They include: “Are you aware that [Ismail] has been instrumental in leading Iraq’s Oil Ministry and its sub-entities to implement Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court decision which was directed by the IRGC-Quds Force to dismantle the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports, and thereby its economy and ability to serve as a bulwark to Iranian regional terrorism?”

This point was first made publicly by Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in a report entitled, “Iraq’s Two Coups—And How the U.S. Should Respond.”

Knights explained that in early 2022, the leader of Iran’s IRGC-QF, in conjunction with former Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, directed the head of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council to have the subordinate Federal Supreme Court issue three rulings. One targeted the KRG’s energy production; another prevented the formation of a government that did not include Iran’s political allies; and the third blocked Zebari, the nominee for president of the Tripartite Alliance (Sadrists, Sunnis, and KDP), from assuming that post.

Other questions the Congressmen asked of Biden include, “Are you aware that [Ismail] along with a range of Iraqi officials are suspected of systemic corruption, largely through the oil operations of the Iraqi state, and business relationships with existing designated terrorist groups, and facilitating the illicit export of Iranian oil and fuel products?”

“Have you determined whether this individual and the Ministry of Oil has or continued to engage and/or supported Iran-backed militias, which attacked the US Embassy in Baghdad on December 31, 2019, including AAH, KH, and the Badr Corps?”

Several more questions along those lines were asked by the Congressmen. Whether the White House will answer them remains to be seen, but the Congressmen have, at least, placed some important issues on Washington’s Middle East agenda.