US extends Iraq’s sanctions waiver to December: AFP

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United States has extended Iraq’s sanction waiver until December to allow the country’s import of Iranian gas, a source told AFP on Wednesday.

Washington has granted Baghdad waivers since it withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and imposed sanctions in 2018, including blacklisting Iran’s energy industry. Iraq relies heavily on Iranian natural gas for power and the waivers are an acknowledgement of that dependency, though the US ultimately expects Iraq to cut the imports. 

The waiver was extended just over a week after Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met with US President Joe Biden in Washington.

In January, Washington granted a three-month extension after "long discussions," an official told AFP at the time. On March 31, the US again agreed to another four-month extension.

Iraq is in arrears to Iran, and Tehran has cut gas exports this summer, leading to blackouts. Iraqi officials have said that they would pay the debt “soon.”

Iraq has not received energy from Iran for a month, the interim electricity minister, Adil Karim, told state media last month, claiming that without Iranian natural gas, Iraq will face “disaster.” Iraq is working to reach “complete energy self-sufficiency” in five years, if there is support, he added. 

Washington does not allow Iraq to pay Iranian dues in US dollars, but western and Iraqi sources said that Iraqi officials had obtained a green light from the United States to release the money owed to Tehran through a Swiss bank account.