Iraq Agrees to Pay Approximately Three Billion Dollars in Debt to Iran

A senior official from the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Saturday that Baghdad has agreed to pay 2.76 billion dollars in gas and electricity debts to Iran. This anonymous Iraqi diplomat spoke to Reuters, claiming that Fouad Hussein, Iraq's Foreign Minister, received this approval during a meeting with Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, on the sidelines of the Riyadh conference last Thursday. Blinken and Hussein met in Riyadh during the international counter-terrorism conference. Due to decades of war and sanctions, Iraq imports a significant portion of its gas needs from Iran. However, as a result of Baghdad's heavy debts to Tehran, the Islamic Republic has repeatedly cut gas exports to Iraq as a retaliatory measure. In this context, Ahmad al-Sahhaf, spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, briefly mentioned progress 'regarding financial debts between Iraq and Iran' during the meeting between Fouad Hussein and Antony Blinken, but he refrained from providing further details. Iranian media, quoting Yahya al-Ishaq, head of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce, reported that part of Iran's blocked assets in Iraq is designated for covering the costs of pilgrims to Hajj, while another part will be used for essential goods. An anonymous source from the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the released assets will be transferred through the Trade Bank of Iraq to cover the costs of Iranian pilgrims and imported food items to Iran. The Islamic Republic, due to U.S. sanctions, lacks access to several billion dollars of Iran's blocked funds in other countries. One of the conditions set by the United States for granting a sanctions exemption to Iraq for importing energy from Iran has been that the country moves towards self-sufficiency in this area.