Report: Iran is losing its influence in the government office .. What are you looking for in the Iraqi parliament ?!

[Mary B]

Report: Iran is losing its influence in the government office .. What are you looking for in the Iraqi parliament ?!

2020.09.20 - 14:37

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People - Baghdad  

On the 40th anniversary of the Iran-Iraq War, a press report sheds light on the approach taken by Tehran, which enabled it to "dominate the decision-making center" in Baghdad for years after the fall of the former regime.  

  

According to the report published by the French Press Agency, "France Press" and followed by "People", (September 20, 2020), "Iran's increasing political and economic influence has become a source of inconvenience to the Iraqis," while Tehran is looking for a "new gateway to hegemony after the diminution of its influence in the government office." ".  

  

The text of the report follows.  

Since entering the war with Iraq forty years ago, Iran has transformed the acute tension with its neighbor into a broad influence that made it easy for its allies to win power, and to become today a basic partner in it.  

  

Aziz Gabr, a professor at Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad who lived the war years (1980-1988), did not expect this to happen at all.  

  

Jabr told "Agence France Presse" about this shift, that "it is difficult to imagine, but it happened. The political parties associated with Iran, including what was made in Iran, are holding the reins of power in Iraq today."  

  

The Iran-Iraq War  

And the former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, invaded Iran on September 22, 1980, due to his concern that the clerics who came to power in Tehran in 1979 were trying to reproduce their "Islamic revolution" in Iraq.  

  

Throughout the war years, which are the longest wars of the twentieth century, which left about a million dead, Iran resorted to providing refuge for groups opposed to Saddam’s regime, including Kurdish figures and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution and its military wing, the Badr Corps, which were formed in Iran in 1982.  

  

Iran did not stop supporting these parties until the fall of Saddam Hussein with the international invasion led by the United States in 2003.  

  

Pro-Iranian personalities in Sulta  

Iraqi figures who have always allied with Iran over the past 17 years have climbed to the top of the hierarchy of power in Iraq.  

  

Three of the six prime ministers who held this position after 2003 - Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Nuri al-Maliki and Adel Abdul Mahdi - spent most of the 1980s in Tehran.  

  

Prominent commanders of the Badr Corps also held high-ranking security positions.  

  

Today, Nechirvan and Masrour Barzani, whose families sought refuge during the Saddam regime in Iran, hold the positions of president and prime minister of the Kurdistan region of Iraq.  

  

In this regard, Jabr said, "The arms that Iran has made were not only made for the purpose of war, but to benefit from them today when they were able to reach power" in Iraq.  

  

The annual parade in honor of war victims is often used in Tehran as an occasion to display new weapons, including ballistic missiles, while veterans occupy senior military positions in Tehran.  

  

On the economic side, Iraq has become the largest market for Iranian non-hydrocarbon products, and the value of Iranian exports reached nine billion dollars during the period between March 2019 and the same month of this year, according to the Tehran Chamber of Commerce.  

  

"My country ladder to Iran"  

And this increased Iranian political and economic influence has become a source of inconvenience to the Iraqis.  

  

A former soldier, Muhammad Abdul Amir (56 years), said in an interview with "Agence France Presse" that "the Iraqis participating in the government have allowed Iran to these blatant interventions in Iraq and have handed over the country its economy, agriculture and even its security."  

  

"I fought for five years and captured ten years (in Iran), and in the end, my country was handed over to Iran," he added.  

  

Frustration spread widely among Iraqis and reached its climax with the escalation of the unprecedented protests that began last October in Baghdad and most southern cities against the political class that is accused of corruption, failure to manage the country and loyalty to Tehran.  

  

Months later, the United States killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Authority, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, in a drone raid near Baghdad airport.  

  

Soleimani, who began his career during the Iran-Iraq war and reached high-ranking positions, was the main supervisor of the Iraq file. As for the engineer, he was a prominent leader in the Popular Mobilization Forces, and was close to Iran.  

  

Analysts believe that the attack cut off the most important links of Iranian influence in Iraq.  

  

Getting around Parliament and ministries  

Last May, Mustafa Al-Kazemi took over as prime minister of Iraq and surrounded himself with advisors described as less loyal to Iran than their predecessors.  

  

In light of the decline in its influence in the prime minister's office, Tehran has turned to the Iraqi parliament and ministries, according to the report.  

https://www.nasnews.com/view.php?cat=40769

[DinarThug]

Despite the rejection of European countries, America announces the re-imposition of UN sanctions on Iran

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced at dawn on Sunday that the United Nations sanctions against Iran "have entered into force again," warning of "consequences" if other countries fail to implement these sanctions, after European countries confirmed their rejection of the move.

"If the member states of the United Nations fail to fulfill their duties to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use its internal powers to impose consequences for these failures and to ensure that Iran does not reap the benefits of the United Nations ban on this action," Pompeo said.

Pompeo made clear that activating the return to the original state clause re-imposes almost all sanctions on Iran, including those previously abolished by the United Nations, including the arms embargo.

Pompeo added that thanks to the re-imposition of sanctions, Iran is now obligated to stop uranium enrichment and heavy water-related activities, stressing that his country will announce new measures in the coming days to strengthen the imposition of sanctions and hold their violators accountable.

Earlier, Britain, France and Germany confirmed in a letter to the Security Council their rejection of the US move, noting that any decision or measure to re-impose UN sanctions on Iran would have no legal effect.

The three countries affirmed that they would continue to abide by the nuclear agreement with Tehran and work to preserve it.

On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said in statements to Iranian state television that the US move to restore international sanctions on Iran is just a propaganda part of President Donald Trump's election campaign, and has no real impact.

Zarif added that Washington had failed to re-impose UN sanctions, and ruled out that secondary sanctions would affect Tehran's purchase of weapons from China and Russia.

He also said, "The Americans are acting like thugs and imposing sanctions ... The international community must decide how to face this bullying."

In turn, the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami, said that any American aggression against Iran would be faced by striking all American bases in the region on a large scale.

He added that his country is capable of targeting America's interests in the region, occupying all its bases and inflicting great losses on the ranks of the American army, stressing that Iran's defensive strength is designed to confront any aggression by the United States and its allied countries.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies

 

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[DinarThug]

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"After 10 years" ... Iraq buys water from Turkey and Iran at twice the oil price

 

20th September, 2020

A member of the Parliamentary Economic Committee warned today, Monday, that Iraq will buy water from Turkey and Iran after  10 years due to the shortage of dams and the failure to build new ones, calling for the need to use economic pressure on the two countries in order to obtain water.

MP Ghaleb Muhammad said, in an interview with Shafaq News, that "Iraq suffers from water scarcity every year," indicating that "this problem is some of it linked to the source countries and the other to the government because it has not established new dams in northern and central Iraq."

Ghalib explained that "approximately 80 billion cubic meters of water enter the region annually, but these quantities enter and leave the Gulf without benefiting from it due to the lack of dams, which is the biggest problem that Iraq suffers from." Ghalib added, "This problem remains of not building new dams. After ten years, Iraq will buy water from Turkey and Iran for twice the barrel of oil we currently sell."

Ghalib stressed "the need to use the economic card on Turkey and Iran in order to obtain a fair share of water," noting that "Iraq is a consumer country and imports most of the goods and goods from Turkey and Iran, and therefore the use of the economic card is the best pressure that can be exercised in this regard." Ghalib pointed out that "the volume of trade exchange with Turkey during the year 2019 amounted to more than 20 billion dollars, and with Iran twice this amount. Therefore, not dealing with these two countries in any year will certainly affect their national currency because hard currency has not entered it."

It is noteworthy that Iraq suffers every year from a great water scarcity as a result of building dams on rivers and the tributaries of upstream countries, the last of which is the construction of the Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River by Turkey, which deprives Iraq of its agreed share and thus negatively affects agriculture and other uses of water.

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Iraq will buy water from Turkey and Iran at twice the oil price after 10 years  LINK

[DinarThug]

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After America reimposed the sanctions, the Iranian riyal fell to a new record high

 

20th September, 2020

The Iranian rial fell to a record low against the US dollar in the unofficial market on Sunday, a day after the administration of US President Donald Trump announced the re-imposition of all international sanctions on Tehran.

The dollar offered up to 273,000 riyals, up from 267,800 riyals on Saturday, according to the foreign exchange website Bonbast.com, which tracks the informal market.

Iran rejected the US move, describing it as void and illegal, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Saturday that it could not take any action on the US declaration because “there appears to be a state of uncertainty” on the issue.

The three European parties to the nuclear deal - France, Britain and Germany - said in a statement on Sunday that any decision or action taken to re-impose UN sanctions "would have no legal effect" because Washington used a mechanism agreed upon under the 2015 nuclear deal. Between Iran and world powers From which the United States withdrew in 2018. However, Trump intends to issue an executive order allowing him to impose US sanctions on anyone who violates sanctions against Iran.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry described Washington's efforts as "futile," adding that "the American approach constitutes a major threat to international peace and security and an unprecedented threat to the United Nations and the Security Council." "Iran affirms that if the United States, directly or in cooperation with a number of its allies, takes any action in line with these threats, it will face a serious response and must take into account all its dangerous consequences, " the ministry said in a statement.

Washington has unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on Iran since 2018, which combined with low oil prices have crippled the economy in Iran, which also has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the Middle East with 24,301 deaths. The Iranian rial has lost about 49% of its value in 2020.

[Mary B]

After 40 years of the Iran-Iraq war, yesterday's enemy becomes an ally

September 20, 2020

6

The longest wars of the twentieth century

After 40 years of the Iran-Iraq war, yesterday's enemy becomes an ally

 

(Baghdad, (AFP) - Since it entered the war with Iraq forty years ago, Iran has transformed the acute tension with its neighbor into wide influence, making it easy for its allies to gain power to become today the first trading partner for Baghdad. It was not Aziz Jaber, a professor at Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. Whoever lived the war years (1980-1988) expects this to happen at all.

"It's hard to imagine, but it happened," Gabr told AFP of the shift. The political parties associated with Iran, including those made in Iran, are holding the reins of power ”in Iraq today. Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Iran on September 22, 1980? Concerned about the attempt by the clerics who came to power in Tehran in 1979 to reproduce their Islamic revolution in Iraq, Iran resorted throughout the war years, which are the longest wars of the twentieth century, which left about a million people dead, to provide a haven for groups opposed to Saddam's regime, including Kurdish figures and in the Council. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution ”and its military wing, the Badr Corps, which were formed in Iran in 1982. And Iran did not cease to support these parties until the fall of Saddam Hussein with the international invasion led by the United States in 2003? What confirms its strong and older relationship than the one that Washington had with the Iraqi parties that took power in Iraq after that.

While trade exchange was prevented during the Saddam regime, Iranian goods were smuggled across the common borders of up to 1,600 km in length under the economic blockade imposed on Iraq in the 1990s. Esfandiar Batmanglij, analyst and founder of the Bazaar and Bazaar Center, believes that the resumption of trade will naturally It became possible after Saddam’s fall. He explained during an interview with AFP, “Engaging in trade between two neighboring countries is a natural thing, and the same situation was for Poland and Germany after the horrors of World War II.” And when Iraq was seeking to rebuild itself after the destruction of the country's infrastructure After the US-led invasion, cheap building materials produced in Iran were the best option. Trade exchange also expanded to include foodstuffs, medicines, and cars, to import electricity today, and from apricot fruits to painkillers, Iranian products are sold throughout Iraq at lower prices than local products.

In July, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged to double that number, but the tough US economic sanctions imposed on Iran in 2018 worsened the economic situation and pushed Tehran to rely increasingly on Iraq, which has turned into the economic lung of the Islamic Republic.

Batmanglij said, "Iranian companies are looking for a place crowded with consumers, as it is not possible to increase sales inside Iran at the moment due to difficult conditions." However, this increasing Iranian political and economic influence has become a source of inconvenience to the Iraqis. A former military man named Muhammad Abdul Amir, 56, told France Press that “The Iraqis participating in the government allowed Iran to have these blatant interventions in Iraq and handed over the country to its economy, agriculture and even its security.” He added with regret, “I fought for five years and captured ten years (in Iran), and in the end, my country was surrendered to Iran.” Its climax came with the escalation of the unprecedented protests that began last October in Baghdad and most cities in the south of the country against the political class, which is accused of corruption, failure to manage the country and loyalty to Tehran.Months later, the United States killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Authority, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, in a drone raid near Baghdad airport.

Soleimani, who started his career during the Iran-Iraq war and reached high-ranking positions, was the main supervisor of the Iraq file. As for Al-Muhandis, he was a prominent leader in the Badr Corps and was close to Iran. Analysts believed that the attack cut off the most important rings of Iranian influence in Iraq. In May, Mustafa Al-Kazemi took over as prime minister of Iraq and surrounded himself with advisors described as less loyal to Iran compared to their predecessors. But Tehran does not appear. According to analyst Renad Mansour from the Chatham House Institute, as the diverse network that she established at the beginning of its war with Iraq will help it withstand the current storm. “Iran has planted allies through formal and informal political networks, including militias, companies, and so on. To ensure that Iraq forms a country that knows Iran, and is known to it. ”In light of the decline of its influence in the prime minister's office, Tehran turned to the Iraqi parliament and the ministries. Mansour said that Tehran wonders,“ Where do we want Iraq after fifty years, ”referring to its adherence to its influence across the borders.

 

https://www.azzaman.com/بعد-40-عاماً-على-الحرب-الإيرانية-العراقي/

[Pitcher]

Thank you Mary. Great article. 

[DinarThug]

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Three Kurdish shepherds were killed and wounded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' fire

 

20th September, 2020

The "Hankao" organization that defends human rights stated, on Saturday, that the "Pasdaran" Revolutionary Guard Corps, affiliated with Iran, shot three shepherds within a yearly border while they were grazing their sheep in the area, pointing out that one of the shepherds was killed Ali The spot while the other two were injured.

In a statement seen by Shafaq News Agency, the organization indicated that reports received by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the borders of Ashniyeh city in northwestern Iran opened fire on the three shepherds on Friday, who are from the village of Lulcan in the Dashtah Bilian region.

The statement added that the direct shooting resulted in the killing of a shepherd, Bassem Hassan Khandahpour, in addition to the wounding of two other shepherds.

[DinarThug]

These are Washington's goals in re-imposing the UN sanctions on Iran

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The American administration affirms that a month after its notification to the UN Security Council of activating the "trigger" mechanism of the nuclear agreement, the mechanism entered into force as of midnight on the twentieth of September, to revive all the UN resolutions (7 resolutions) approved by the Council against Iran, Before the nuclear agreement was reached on the fourteenth of July 2015, and the suspension of sanctions a week later, according to another UN resolution.

As of Sunday, the US administration revived these UN decisions and their effects (sanctions) against Iran, in the context of the strategy of maximum pressure against Iran, amid sharp differences with the nuclear deal's partners, regarding the legality of this measure or not. These partners are all members of the Security Council, four of them (China, Russia, France and Britain) are permanent members, and Germany is a non-permanent member.

In light of this great international opposition, Washington makes these decisions by using the weapon of sanctions against any country that seeks to circumvent it and does not abide by it, and it is the same way it has taken the issue of economic sanctions since its withdrawal from the nuclear agreement in 2018, when it forced the countries of the world to abide by these sanctions. Including the members of the nuclear agreement, so that one of the two pillars of the agreement collapsed, namely the lifting of these sanctions, which were canceled in exchange for Tehran's commitment to specific nuclear pledges.

Washington goals
It does not seem that the American goal of activating these UN decisions is limited to re-imposing canceled international sanctions and restrictions only, as most of these sanctions are imposed by the United States on Iran at the present time in form and substance, and other countries adhere to them in one way or another, for example these countries cannot Because of American pressure to export nuclear and military technologies and equipment to it, it is also not expected that powers such as China and Russia will conclude deals to sell weapons to Iran after the end of the arms embargo on it, for many reasons related to the intertwining of the interests of these powers with the parties hostile to Tehran, foremost among which is the United States itself, And Israel. The best proof of this is the story of the Russian S-300 system sale, which Tehran concluded with Moscow, but the latter refused to implement it due to American and Israeli pressure.
The matter may also not be far from the attempts of the Republican hawks and the Israeli lobby in the United States to establish a new American path and a new international reality against Iran. Democratic candidate Joe Biden is not able to easily bypass them and in
addition to those goals, the timing of this American escalation in confronting Tehran during the election campaigns in the states The United States affirms that it also comes at the core of the US President’s electoral calculations, whether in terms of appeasing the American Zionist movement and winning its votes, or in terms of investigating its wish to destroy the nuclear agreement and bury it forever, or to divert the attention of the American voter from domestic problems towards hot international files.
Also, the matter may not be far from the attempts of Republican hawks and the Israeli lobby in the United States to establish a new American path and a new international reality against Iran, which the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, will not be able to easily bypass if he wins the US elections and loses Donald Trump.

Consequently, and to achieve these goals, the US administration, through activating the "conflict resolution" mechanism, seeks to cancel Resolution 2231, which supplemented the nuclear agreement, which not only nullified the effects of previous resolutions against Iran, but also removed the Iranian nuclear file from the corridors of the Security Council and returned it to the International Energy Agency. Atomicism, which is what the Iranian government viewed as a great achievement for Tehran in and of itself, especially since it has also emerged from under Chapter Seven.

The New Arab

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[DinarThug]

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Tehran: The decision to prevent the import of 29 Iraqi agricultural products does not apply to Kurdistan customs

 

 

21st September, 2020

 

A member of the Board of Directors of the Iranian-Iraqi Joint Chamber of Commerce, Hamid Hosseini, announced, on Monday, that Iran has maintained its export share of 22 percent in the Iraqi market, and that exports, after the reopening of the crossings, will witness an inevitable increase

Hosseini said in a statement reported by the Iranian "Fars" agency about the approval of Iraq banning the import of 29 Iranian agricultural products, that "the ban is phased in nature and the Iraqi government issues it according to local production conditions, especially in the agricultural field

Hosseini added, "The ban does not apply to the customs of Iraqi Kurdistan

He pointed out that "the statistics for the five months (the period from March 20 to August 20, 2020) indicate that the export situation for this country is good and is expected to improve until March 20, 2021

[DinarThug]

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Washington imposes a new package of sanctions on Iran, including the Minister of Defense

 

21st September, 2020

On Monday, the United States of America announced the imposition of a new package of sanctions on Iran.

"The sanctions include the Iranian defense minister and two key figures in Tehran's uranium enrichment program," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a press conference with the ministers of defense, treasury and trade, which was followed by Shafaq News.

In turn, US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said, "Washington is imposing sanctions on a group of experts and officials in the Iranian nuclear energy agency."

In addition, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross explained that "US sanctions target parties linked to Iranian nuclear activities," stressing "President Trump's strong commitment to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon." "The names of 5 scholars have been added to the list of sanctions against Iran, along with other entities," he added.

For his part, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, "The United States of America is taking a new step to protect the Americans and our allies."

"Iran is violating international resolutions by delivering banned weapons to groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthis," he added.

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Trump signs decree imposing sanctions on those who facilitate the supply of non-nuclear weapons to Iran  LINK

[DinarThug]

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A newspaper monitors a change in Iran's position on targeting US forces in Iraq

 

22nd September, 2020

The "Wall Street Journal" said in a report that Iran decided to change its strategy regarding the military strikes that pro-Iranian militias carry out in Iraq against American forces, due to its fears that this matter would provide "help" to US President Donald Trump's election campaign Leads to re-arrival to the White House.

The newspaper quoted some US officials and analysts as saying that Iran and its armed groups were unlikely to launch any provocative attack that might have a positive impact on rallying popular support for President Trump in the few weeks before the election. "If they do not want to be reelected, the worst thing they can do is to do something to anger the American public," said an American official, described by the newspaper as an observer of regional affairs.

In the past two months, the rate of missile attacks launched by Iranian-backed militias on US bases in Iraq has increased, but has decreased recently, and in this context, military officials said that such attacks included 20 or more missiles in a single attack, but at the present time the attacks are being used. It has three to five missiles.

And US military officials made clear that Iran is trying, through these simple attacks, to prove that it still poses a threat, but it will not do anything that might lead to a military response, such as, for example, targeting American elements. "It's more about messaging, not wanting to do harm," one official told the newspaper. 

Some observers believe that Iran will not want to take action that might push the United States to change its withdrawal plans, especially since many officials in Tehran stated at various times that they want the United States to leave Iraq. "What we should expect instead is the increasing Iranian pressure on the US-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi and his political supporters, who represent the new engine of US pressure on Iran," said Jennifer Caffarella, a fellow national security fellow at The Washington Institute. 

On the other hand, some US military commanders believe that Iranian threats remain, and these leaders are headed by General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Marine General Frank Mackenzie, who heads the US Central Command, which is responsible for military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan. It should be noted that Trump has confirmed that he is able to conclude a new agreement with Iran within weeks as he was re-elected, while his rival, Democratic candidate Joe Biden, has pledged to return to the 2015 nuclear deal if Tehran returns to comply with its provisions.

[DinarThug]

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A new US exemption for Baghdad to import energy from Tehran
 

 

24th September, 2020

Agence France-Presse quoted an Iraqi official as saying that the United States extended for an additional two months the exemption granted to Iraq from sanctions imposed on Iran in the energy field, which would allow Baghdad to continue importing gas and electricity from Iran.

Although Iraq is an oil country, it relies heavily on Iran in the field of energy, as it imports a third of its consumption needs of gas and electricity due to its aging infrastructure that makes it unable to achieve energy self-sufficiency to secure the needs of its 40 million people.

Since the United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran at the end of 2018, the US administration has been granting Iraq one exemption after another, pending finding other suppliers.

When the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi came to power in May, the United States granted Baghdad an extension of the exemption for a period of four months at once. This step was seen at the time as a strong US support for a government seen as more pro-American than its predecessor.

Al-Kazemi, who visited Washington last August, signed memoranda of understanding with a number of US energy companies. But his government is facing the worst economic crisis in modern Iraqi history.

Iraq was severely affected by the drop in oil prices, and the damage exacerbated the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, which reached more than 330,000 injured people, of whom more than 8,700 died, according to official figures.

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America extends an additional two months Iraq exemption to import energy from Iran
 

 

24th September, 2020