According to PressTV, Farhad Alaulchin, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s foreign affairs adviser, said in a statement on Saturday that Baghdad does not face a threat from Washington if oil exports do not resume from Kurdistan.
“Decisions related to the management of national resources will be made in accordance with Iraq’s sovereignty and in ways that serve the economic interests of the country,” Arauld said.
He argued that Iraqi parliament had already passed a law establishing the prices of oil that would be exported from Kurdistan.
The statement comes after Reuters news agency alleged in a report that US President Donald Trump’s administration is putting pressure on Iraq to face reopening or sanctions on Kurdish oil exports.
The report says that reopening oil exports from Kurdistan, which reaches 300,000 barrels per day (BPD), offsets Iran’s potential oil exports as a result of Washington’s efforts to impose more sanctions on Iran. He said it would help to do so.
Iran is currently supplying up to 1.8 million bpd of oil to international markets despite a strict regime of US sanctions that impose large penalties on buyers.
Sanctions began seven years ago during Trump’s first term.
Trump has announced the re-enactment of a so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.
Iranian authorities downplayed the threat by saying they had introduced policies to counter Washington’s hostile actions targeting the energy sector.
MP/