Parliamentary Electricity: Stopping Iranian gas will cause Iraq to lose 8,000 megawatts
Parliamentary Electricity: Stopping Iranian gas will cause Iraq to lose 8,000 megawatts
2025-03-09 06:56
Shafaq News/ The Deputy Chairman of the Electricity Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Walid Al-Sahlani, confirmed on Sunday that the interruption of Iranian gas will cause the loss of 8,000 megawatts from the country’s electricity system.
Al-Sahlani told Shafaq News Agency, ” Iraq needs 1,800 cubic meters of Iranian gas, and the interruption of this amount from the gas stations will cause the loss of 8,000 megawatts from the electrical system.”
He added, “There is a move by the Iraqi government through diplomatic channels from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others, to obtain an exemption from the United States of America to re-import Iranian gas to operate gas stations.”
He added, ” The real problem is not importing Iranian gas, but paying the financial dues to Iran, and this crisis must be resolved to avoid the summer crisis.”
Earlier today, the head of the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Atwan Al-Atwani, delivered a letter to the US government stating that stopping the import of gas from Iran will cause the collapse of the electricity grid system during the coming summer in Iraq, indicating the need to extend the exemptions granted to Iraq in this regard after they were officially stopped by the administration of US President Donald Trump .
This came during Al-Atwani’s meeting with the US Ambassador to Iraq, Daniel Rubinstein, and the accompanying delegation, according to the MP’s media office .
In turn, the US Ambassador expressed his understanding of what Al-Atwani had raised during the meeting regarding the energy and banking sanctions files, and promised to convey these messages to his country’s government in the hope of finding permanent treatments and solutions that would achieve the interests of the two friendly peoples, noting that the import of natural gas is, until now, outside the sanctions system, according to the statement.
The US State Department spokesman said on Sunday that the administration of President Donald Trump had ended the exemptions granted to Iraq to purchase electricity from Iran. Reuters quoted the spokesman as saying that Washington would not allow Tehran any amount of economic or financial relief .
“The president’s maximum pressure campaign aims to end Iran’s nuclear threat, curtail its ballistic missile program, and prevent it from supporting terrorist groups ,” the spokesman added .
shafaq.com
