Crude from the Kirkuk field in northern Iraq is being
shipped by truck to Iran but the KRG's ministry of finance and economy ordered
border crossings not to allow the passage of oil tankers into Iran as of
February 15, PressTV reported.
On Tuesday, Iraqi media reports said tanker trucks had
resumed oil exports to Iran after the KRG “relaxed” a recent order that had
halted the cross-border crude and fuel trade.
“After receiving
a new order from the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) on Feb. 20, border
officials at the three main crossing points between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran
began letting tanker trucks through,” they said.
No reason was given for the halt but the decision came after President
Donald Trump voiced discontent over KRG's oil sales to Iran last month.
After Trump's remarks, Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif visited
Iraq and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region where he said "no sanctions
will affect relations between Baghdad and Tehran".
The swap deal was agreed at the end of 2017, under which Iraq was about to
truck 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to Kermanshah in western Iran.
Iraq’s southern Basra port would receive the same amount of crude from Iran
either by tanker or pipeline.
Last week, KRG spokesperson Safin Dizayee was quoted as saying that the
regional Kurdish government was determined to maintain economic connections
with Iran.
“We will respect the relationship
we have - especially since it has developed over many years - and we will never
abandon it. We cannot abandon our historic connection just because of a
political decision,” he said.
Relations between the two neighbors, however, are increasingly coming under
pressure from the US which imposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran in May after
abandoning an international nuclear agreement.
Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that Iraq was pushing back
on US pressures to stop buying natural gas and electricity from Iran.
Gas imports from Iran generate as much as 45 percent of Iraq's 14,000
megawatts of electricity consumed daily. Iran transmits another 1,200 megawatts
directly, making itself an indispensable energy source for its Arab neighbor.
Last month, the US State Department announced a 90-day exemption to allow
Iraq to continue crucial electricity and gas imports from Iran.
According to the New York Times, the Trump administration has told Iraq’s
leaders that they have until late March to end electricity purchases but
Baghdad says there is no easy substitute because it would take three years or
more to adequately build up Iraq’s energy infrastructure.
Dizayee said the future of the KRG’s contracts with Iran depended on the
outcome of talks between the central Iraqi government and the US.
“As far as I am aware, there are talks between the government in Baghdad and
the Americans regarding the sanctions on Iran, but that no decision has been
made by the central government,” he said.
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