2026-07-27T15:43:06+00:00
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Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq and the United States have reached an agreement
allowing Baghdad to settle Iran’s outstanding payments for gas imports through
the supply of goods, including food and medicine, instead of cash transfers, a
member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Electricity and Energy Committee said on
Monday.
Riyadh Uday told Shafaq News that Iran is seeking about $11
billion in unpaid dues from Iraq, adding that a part of the amount is currently
held at the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) but cannot be transferred because of US
sanctions imposed on Iran.
“There are ongoing discussions between the Iraqi and
Iranian delegations to resolve the issue of these funds and resume the supply
of Iranian gas to Iraq’s power plants.”
Last Thursday, Iranian Central Bank Governor Abd al-Naser
Hemmati disclosed the value of Iran’s outstanding claims against Iraq for
exports of natural gas and electricity, noting that the issue was a key topic
during talks with Iraqi Central Bank Governor Nizar Nasser Hussein on the
sidelines of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih Al-Zaidi’s visit to Tehran.
“The Central Bank of Iran holds about $7 billion deposited
in Iraq, in addition to more than $3 billion owed to Iran’s Oil Ministry,
bringing the total amount owed by the Iraqi government and Iraqi banks to
between $10 billion and $11 billion.”
Under bilateral agreements, Iraq deposits payments for
imported Iranian gas and electricity into accounts held at the Central Bank of
Iraq and the Trade Bank of Iraq.
The original contracts stipulated that gas imports would be
paid for in euros and electricity imports in US dollars. However, after the
United States withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018 and
reimposed sanctions, Iraq was no longer able to settle the payments in foreign
currencies. The restrictions led to the accumulation of the funds within Iraq’s
banking system and limited how the money could be used.