Al-Zaydi reassures Iraqis that salaries will be secured and affirms: We have multiple options to confront the Hormuz crisis.
Al-Zaydi reassures Iraqis that salaries will be secured and affirms: We have multiple options to confront the Hormuz crisis.
2026-08-21
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi reassured employees and retirees on Friday that monthly salaries and government payments would be fully secured, while emphasizing that Iraq is going through “difficult and challenging” circumstances due to regional developments and the disruption of oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
Al-Zaydi said, during his participation in the proceedings of the “Eighth Baghdad Dialogue” conference organized by the Iraqi Institute for Dialogue, that Iraq is facing major economic challenges, noting that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz represents a major obstacle, and recalling that the strait “was not closed even in the most difficult days of the embargo.”
He added that the government has succeeded in finding alternative routes for oil exports and activating border crossings to boost trade, stressing that the state has “more than one solution” to maintain economic stability and deal with the repercussions of the crisis.
In the financial file, Al-Zaydi revealed that the draft budget for next year will soon be sent, which will focus mainly on the electricity sector (production, distribution and transmission) and the expansion of solar energy, stressing that reforms will be made in local fuel consumption according to a new economic model that will achieve financial savings estimated at 17.8 trillion dinars annually.
The Prime Minister also indicated that there are plans to increase Iraq’s export quota through OPEC to reach 8-10 million barrels per day over the next six years.
Politically and in terms of security, Al-Zaydi confirmed that there is a complete agreement among the political forces to restrict weapons to the state and to work on mechanisms for their final handover, ruling out any possibility of a military clash with armed factions, and stressing the government’s continued broad political support in the fight against corruption.
shafaq.com
