Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stressed the need to implement the agreements signed between Iran and Iraq and admitted that most such agreements had not been implemented.
During a meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in the capital Tehran on Tuesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a number of deals and memorandums of understanding have been signed between Tehran and Baghdad that will not be implemented. He said he rarely does. He specifically called for action on projects in the areas of trade cooperation, goods transport and rail transport.
The Islamic Republic is known to announce that it will sign deals and contracts whenever officials from other countries visit, but most such announcements are not followed up and lead to concrete operations. No. Many numbers are usually published, but upon closer scrutiny they turn out to be bogus or just estimates.
On Wednesday, Hamid Hosseini, director of Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Export Association, announced that Tehran and Baghdad had signed a $4 billion contract in the field of technology and engineering services exports.However, an official said, “In eight months of this year [beginning on March 20], excluding electricity, exports to Iraq totaled $4.7 billion, down $1.4 billion compared to the same period last year. “In his remaining four months, Iranian exports to Iraq are expected to reach $8 billion to $9 billion,” Hosseini claimed.
Iraq imports natural gas and is Iran’s second largest trading partner after China, but US banking sanctions against the Islamic Republic have made it difficult for Tehran to receive payments. At times, the Islamic Republic claims to have received funds from Iraq. Payments for Iranian gas and power imports by Iraq go to a special account at the state-owned Iraqi Trade Bank. Iran can only use its funds for humanitarian goods. The amount frozen in Iraqi banks he topped $6 billion in September, though the amount has likely increased since then.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (left) and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi hold a joint press conference in Tehran on November 29, 2022.
Iran’s oil ministry also announced on Tuesday that it had opened an office in Iraq. The oil ministry’s special envoy to Iraq, Sayyed Abbas Beheshti, said the mission would help facilitate the implementation of joint energy projects between Iran and Iraq. “This office was opened in the city of Baghdad with the aim of promoting cooperation and synergies, especially in the implementation of joint oil, gas and energy projects between the two brother countries,” he added. Two other Iranian oil ministry missions will also open in the oil-rich region of Basra in the south and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, he said.
According to a recent article in a Tehran newspaper, Iran lost $450 billion in oil revenues In ten years, due to international and US sanctions. Aftab News website based on calculations of lost revenue About OPEC’s annual oil exports It also estimates that the United Nations Security Council sanctions implemented a decade ago and lasting for more than three years, followed by US sanctions since 2018, have done enormous damage to Iran.
President Ebrahim Raisi and Oil Minister Iran claims to have increased oil production and exports It has risen to levels seen before 2018, when former President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and began imposing sanctions on Iran’s oil exports.
Iraq’s oil ministry said earlier this year it had exported $11 billion of oil in March as oil prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is the highest level in half a century.Iraq’s record oil shipments caught the attention of several Iran experts Who drew attention to Baghdad’s success on social media, Iran is still hampered by US sanctions.The ministry said the country exported “$11.07 billion revenue on 100,563,999 barrels, highest earnings since 1972”. This makes Iraq’s daily shipments triple that of Iran’s clandestine exports.
Al-Sudani’s accompanying delegation includes Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, veteran oil minister Hayan Abdulghani, and former Home Minister and current National Security Adviser Qasim Al-Araj. This is the first visit to Japan by the new prime minister, who took office at the end of October. Visiting Iraqi officials held several meetings on Tuesday. with President Ebrahim RaishiAl-Sudani and his delegation visited the religious city of Mashhad on Wednesday.
The new prime minister has already visited Jordan and Kuwait and is due to visit Saudi Arabia in late December. His visit to Iran was aimed at strengthening ties between Baghdad and Tehran.
In September, the head of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, Jahanbakhsh Sanjabi Siraj, said it ran counter to the government’s allegations. Iranian exports to Iraq are declining Over the last 5 months, it was 8% in value and 28% in weight.
