The head of the Iraqi Parliament's Economic Commission emphasized in a conversation with the US Embassy Chargé d'Affaires in Baghdad that preventing the import of Iranian gas by the US would have disastrous consequences for the Iraqi people, especially in the summer, as it would cause the collapse of the country's state-owned electricity system.
According to Ashura News, citing IRNA, the press office of the head of the Iraqi Parliament's Economic Commission announced that "Atwan Al-Atwani" met with "Daniel Rubinstein", the chargé d'affaires of the US Embassy, and his accompanying delegation. Pointing to the importance of this meeting in the current critical situation, Al-Atwani stressed the need for constant communication to correct the course of relations between the two countries.
In this meeting, ways to strengthen joint cooperation between Iraq and the US in the management and development of the financial and banking sectors were discussed and reviewed, and the US sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its impact on the Iraqi electricity sector were also discussed and exchanged, especially in view of the expiration of Iraq's exemption from importing Iranian gas.
Al-Atwani conveyed an important message to the US chargé d'affaires in Iraq, in which it was emphasized: stopping the import of Iranian gas will have catastrophic consequences for the Iraqi people, especially in the summer, because due to the lack of any alternative at present, it will cause the collapse of the national electricity system.
The Iraqi parliamentarian emphasized: The Iraqi government has invested in electricity production to achieve energy independence, but these projects will be exploited in the coming years.
The head of the Iraqi Parliament's Economic Commission also called on the US government to review the policy of pressure exerted by the US Treasury Department on the country's financial and banking sectors through the imposition of continuous sanctions on Iraqi banks.
Al-Atwani noted: Iraq has achieved a qualitative change in the policy of compliance and financial transfers, and despite this, Iraqi banks, even the Central Bank of Iraq, are subject to collective sanctions without prior warning and without any announced justification, and this has created a big problem for us and has affected the work and activities of the banking sector.
The US charge d’affaires also noted in the meeting that he understood what Al-Atwani had raised in this meeting regarding the energy and banking sanctions cases and promised to convey these messages to his country’s government in the hope of finding permanent solutions that would serve the interests of both nations, noting that the sanctions have not yet included natural gas imports.
On the other hand, the US ambassador, while expressing sympathy with the issues that Al-Atwani raised in this meeting, especially regarding the energy and banking sanctions cases, promised to convey these messages to his government. He expressed hope that permanent solutions and measures would be found for these issues, in a way that would serve the interests of both nations.
Daniel Rubinstein also emphasized that natural gas imports are currently outside the “framework of sanctions.”
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