PM Kadhimi directs electricity ministry to discuss natural gas supply with Iran

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Sunday directed the electricity ministry to assign a team to travel to Tehran and discuss the Iranian gas supply to Iraq, which has been cut for over a year now as a hot-dry summer nears an arrival in its western neighbor.

In a meeting with the Energy Ministerial Council, PM Kadhimi ordered “the assigning of a working team from the Ministry of Electricity to travel to the Islamic Republic of Iran to solve the issues related to supplying Iraq with gas with the Iranian side,” read a statement from his office. 

Iraq is in arrears to Iran, which cut its gas exports to its neighboring country last summer, leading to blackouts.

In December of 2020, Iran substantially reduced its natural gas exports to Iraq. Nine months later, it said that its gas exports to Iraq were slashed and will remain reduced for six months, unrelated to the outstanding debt. 

Last month, the United States renewed a waiver, giving Baghdad 120 days to pay for electricity imported from Iran. The waiver enables Iraqi payments for Iranian electricity imports, bypassing existing US sanctions on Iran's economy after former US president Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Tehran. While other major importers of Iranian energy were forced to shop elsewhere or face US sanctions, Iraq was granted recurring waivers on the condition it eventually weans itself off Iranian imports.

Iraq, which suffers from chronic electricity shortages, heavily relies on Iranian natural gas for its electricity production.

The insufficiency is also caused by multiple factors, including poor government delivery of services, rampant corruption, and terror attacks on the power grid.

Plans to protect the electricity grids were presented during the meeting, according to the statement from the PM's office.