Iran has received some payments from its funds frozen by Iraqi banks, including the state-owned Trade Bank of Iraq, after agreement by Washington, Hamid Hosseini, Secretary General of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, said on Friday [March 5] citing a “reliable source” in Iraq.
Hosseini, who made the announcement in a tweet, said that the funds would help Iran buy basic commodities ahead of the Iranian New Year (starting March 21).
Iraq owes Iran over $6 billion, mainly for electricity and gas imports, which has been frozen by Iraqi banks wary of possible United States secondary sanctions that under Washington’s ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran threaten anyone dealing with the Iranian financial sector.
Despite the US several times issuing sanctions wavers including a 90-day waiver for energy trade(link is external) with Iran in January, monies owed to Iran have been stuck in branches of different Iranian banks in Iraq or deposited in a special account at the Trade Bank of Iraq, to which until now Iran has been denied access.
Iraqi officials have not reacted to Hosseini’s claim. Earlier on Friday the Arabic Twitter account of Aljazeera quoted an adviser(link is external) to Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, that Washington had agreed to Tehran using some of the funds held in Baghdad for humanitarian purposes.
Following Kadhimi’s visit to Tehran last week, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian told reporters that Iraq’s debts had been discussed and there was “no cause for worry” over payments in future.
Iran’s Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati, after visiting Baghdad on October 12, said Iran had $5 billion in assets blocked in Iraqi banks. “Tens of billions of dollars of our assets are frozen in foreign banks,” he said. “Even countries that have good relations with Iran cannot cooperate with us due to the US pressure.”