NOURNEWS - Iran’s Minister of Energy Reza Ardakanian arrived in Baghdad to follow up on the issues between the two countries in the field of electricity and energy, as well as Iraqi gas debts, and met with the Minister of Electricity, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Prime Minister of Iraq.
The visit came as Iraq announced yesterday that Iran had reduced its gas exports to less than a tenth due to delays in paying its gas import debts to Iran.
The National Iranian Gas Company also said that this action was taken after several warnings and non-payment of Iraq's multi-billion-dollar debt.
The Iraqi government owes the National Iranian Gas Company more than $ 5 billion for gas imports and more than $ 1 billion for contractual offenses, and the point is that $ 3 billion of this money is blocked in the American-controlled Iraqi Trade Bank (TBI).
While Washington claims to have exempted Iraq from sanctions on Iran, at least at times, this claim does not seem to be true in reality, and the Americans continue to put additional pressure on the Iraqi government to sever economic ties with Iran.
It seems that the Iraqi government has no choice but to get out of this situation under the pressure of the United States, and more mobility and independence of the Iraqi government to pay its debts can lead to a way out of this situation.
NOURNEWS