An American report: Two strategic issues prompted Trump to insist on linking Iraq’s electricity to the Gulf countries
An American report: Two strategic issues prompted Trump to insist on linking Iraq’s electricity to the Gulf countries
08/25/2020 17:11
Baghdad Today – Follow-up
A report published by the American newspaper, The AIPAC Times, said that the administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to support Iraq in developing good relations with the Gulf countries to help it meet its electrical energy needs.
The newspaper quoted, Isra Serem, a political science expert from E-Marcel University in France, as saying that “the Trump administration believes that Iraq and the Gulf Cooperation Council should be pushed closer to each other.”
The expert said, “The United States recently fully supported a plan to connect Iraq to the Gulf Cooperation Council power grid, and mediated between Baghdad and the six GCC countries to reach an agreement … This plan means that Iraq’s electrical capacity will increase rapidly and suddenly.”
According to a joint statement issued by the United States, the Cooperation Council and Iraq on July 16, “the project to link the Gulf Cooperation Council electricity network to the Iraqi electricity grid aims to provide electric power to those affected by the power shortage in Iraq, especially in the southern governorates.”
“The Iraqi government, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the United States are looking forward to progressing more cooperation in the field of economy and energy between the United States, Iraq and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, to be a base for peace, development and prosperity in the region,” the State Department statement said.
Yazid Sayigh, a fellow at the Carnegie Center for Middle East Studies, told the AIPAC Times newspaper, “The United States is using two issues to pull Iraq into a closer geopolitical relationship, and they are the two reasons that pushed it to insist on linking Iraq’s electricity to the Gulf countries.”
Sayegh says: “The American administration is taking advantage of a difficult problem that Iraq faces in supplying electric power and the United States’ interest in the Iraqi energy sector, to pull Iraq into a closer geopolitical relationship. Connecting Iraq to the GCC electricity grids is a way to redirect a strategic approach, as leaving the connection to another date would be costly.” . ”
In a statement issued on August 19 after the strategic meeting, the US State Department said, “The two governments plan to continue cooperation with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Gulf Cooperation Council Power Grid Authority related to investing in linking the Iraqi electricity network with the GCC electricity grid.”
Rang Aladdin, a fellow at the Brookings Institution for Studies in Doha, said, commenting on the issue that “relations between Iraq and the Gulf countries were not good, and this is due to a series of complex factors.”
Aladdin added, “With the support of the United States, Iraq can reintegrate into the Arab world, and revitalize a relationship with the Gulf based on common interests to help revive the Iraqi economy.”
“The Iraqi government is enthusiastic that the United States will play its role in restoring its ties with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council,” says the expert, Sirim, according to the newspaper.
“Creating a set of economic, financial and diplomatic incentives between Iraq and the countries of the Cooperation Council that would pave the way for overcoming past conflicts and differences between them, and attract more US allies to invest in Iraq,” she added.
The researcher Aladdin said that “the United States must create a framework that calls for the consolidation of a relationship between Iraq and the GCC countries.”
He goes on to say, “What the United States should advise is a set of guidelines and a framework for formulating what could in fact be an American Gulf axis in Baghdad and a supportive Gulf political alliance in Baghdad that creates some cooperation between what already exists from some of the factors of underlying political ties.” With the Gulf region. ”
In a statement on this matter on March 26, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortiges said, “According to an exemption from sanctions issued by the United States, Iraq is permitted to enter financial exchanges related to its importation of electrical energy from Iran. The purpose of this exception, which was renewed by the United States, is To meet the urgent energy needs of the Iraqi people. The United States is always in touch with the Iraqi government about energy security. ”
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