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Iraq to deposit billions in TBI to pay for Iran’s energy import: Source

A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency on July 22, 2019 shows Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (R) posing for a picture with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi at Sa’ad Abad Palace Complex, the presidential residence, in the capital Tehran. (AFP photo)

A senior source active in Iran’s trade with Iraq says the Arab country is to deposit several billions of US dollars in an account in an Iraqi bank to pay for imports of energy from Tehran as well as for other debts.

Seyyed Hamid Hosseini said on Sunday that $4-5 billion will be deposited to the special account in the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) to settle Iraq’s debts to Iran, including those related to the imports of electricity and gas over the past years, based on a recent agreement between governments of the two neighboring countries.

Hosseini, who serves as the secretary of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, told the Tasnim news agency that authorities from the two countries had agreed to use the account as an special financial instrument to evade US sanctions on Iran and allow Tehran to pay for imports of non-sanction goods through the account.

“Unfortunately, in practice ... this mechanism hit a snag and became entangled in administrative bureaucracy,” he said, adding that American bank JPMorgan Chase, which controls shares in the TBI, has been stonewalling Iran’s access to the account.

Hosseini said businessmen and private sector activists had currently no major problems doing trade between Iran and Iraq, adding that the TBI mechanism had been expected to accommodate government-to-government transactions between the two countries.  

Iran is still the number one supplier of natural gas and electricity to Iraq despite growing pressure from the United States which seeks to cut the exports to zero.

Baghdad has secured rounds of waivers from US sanctions, insisting that it has no alternative to replace energy imports from Iran.


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