Confirming Shafaq News.. Trump is heading to impose sanctions on Iraqi groups
Confirming Shafaq News.. Trump is heading to impose sanctions on Iraqi groups
2025-02-26 04:30
Shafaq News/ The American website “Fox News” published a report today, Wednesday, in which it referred to the “maximum pressure” sanctions that the Trump administration is pursuing against countries that have economic and trade relations with Iran, including Iraq, which includes punishing a group of banks and controlling Baghdad’s reserves at the US Federal Reserve.
According to the website’s report, translated by Shafaq News Agency, “These countries should expect to feel the shock waves resulting from Trump’s campaign on the Iranian oil trade,” indicating that Iran currently exports an average of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, but under the executive order issued by Trump on February 6, the Secretaries of State and Treasury will work to “implement a campaign aimed at driving Iranian oil exports to zero.”
The report touched on “$6 billion in Qatar from Iranian oil revenues held in Doha,” noting that “this issue was raised during the meeting of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani this week.”
The US report indicated that “Washington intends to cut off Iran’s oil exports to China, which account for 90% of Iranian outflows, by sanctioning some individuals and ships associated with the so-called shadow fleet of ships transporting Iranian oil, but stricter campaigns could pass after Chinese banks that process oil transactions.”
The Trump administration also intends, according to Fox News, to “withdraw waivers from Iran’s Chabahar port project, a major trade gateway in southern Iran with India, through which the latter has pumped $370 million. India had previously obtained a waiver for the project, allowing it to create a trade route in Central Asia that bypassed Pakistan, because American officials believed the port helped reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.”
As for Iraq, the report explained that “the United States has great influence over Iraq, and $100 billion of the country’s reserves are kept in the United States, and it can use this money to exert great pressure on Baghdad to distance it from Iranian influence.”
The report cited “the ban on five Iraqi banks from conducting transactions in US dollars as a means of eliminating Iran’s access to the US currency,” considering that “Iraq is the lifeline for Iran’s access to hard currency, and the United States has long sought to restrict Tehran’s bypassing of sanctions through its neighbor.”
Last Monday, Shafaq News Agency published a report revealing the efforts made by the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prevent the issuance of US sanctions against Iraq, including companies and names of leaders in the Popular Mobilization Authority.
According to an informed political source, who told Shafaq News Agency, requesting that his name not be mentioned, “American sanctions may be issued soon and will include a list of names of political figures who have armed factions.”
The source also explained that “the list includes more than ten names, some of whom are leaders of the Popular Mobilization Forces, and others are well-known and have partnerships with important political forces,” explaining that “the situation with the United States may escalate, and the goal is to control the movement of money in Iraq and to limit and weaken what the American administration calls Iran’s arms and to stop supplying Tehran with hard currency through intermediaries.”
The source pointed out that “there are three financial companies and three transportation companies, all of which operate within the Iraqi oil fleet, and they will also be on the blacklist, in order to pressure and stop the smuggling of currency and oil towards Iran.”
On the 16th of this month, a responsible Iraqi government source revealed to Shafaq News Agency that Iraqi government agencies had received an official notification imposing US sanctions on five new Iraqi banks for their involvement in illegal financial transfers inside and outside Iraq.
shafaq.com
