Exclusive: Iraq to end all dollar cash withdrawals by Jan. 1, 2024, central-bank official says

[6ly410]

Did you embarrass Sudan's government?

Analysis from the UAE Center: No sanctions on Iraqi banks, 'temporary ban' is positive

2023.07.30 - 15:14

Analysis from the UAE Center: No sanctions on Iraqi banks, 'temporary ban' is positive (nasnews.com)

 

Baghdad - NAS  

According to an analysis by an Emirati center, the use of the term "sanctions", in what happened to 14 Iraqi banks recently, is not accurate, and the matter does not exceed a temporary ban on the use of the currency sales window due to violations they committed, and lifting it is linked to meeting the correct administrative conditions without the need for a US political decision that allows it.  

    

  

According to the analysis written by Professor at the American University of Sulaymaniyah "Aqeel Abbas" for the Emirates Policy Center, followed by "NAS" on Sunday (July 03, 2023), the official US commitment to silence, by not denying the validity of the leak of the news of the "sanctions" or confirming it, suggests an American desire to surround the effects of the issue politically in Iraq, and alleviate the embarrassment suffered by the Sudanese government.  

  

The analysis stressed that the exclusion of the 14 banks from participating in the window of currency sale in Iraq indicates that this window can be controlled, especially with the entry into force of the electronic platform, and reduce the possibility of political interference in suspicious banking operations.  

  

The following is the text of the analysis:  

Concern in Iraq escalated after the United States announced that it would punish 14 Iraqi banks and prevent them from dealing in US dollars due to strong suspicions about their smuggling of dollars to Iran, which is under US economic and financial sanctions. This announcement led to an increase in the price of the dollar in the parallel Iraqi market, which is not under government control, to reach 1550 dinars from 1445 dinars (knowing that the official rate of the dollar is set at 1320 dinars). Thus, expectations have opened the door to further political confrontation between the United States and the influential Shiite forces in Iraq and loyal to Iran, which are usually accused of being behind the smuggling of dollars to Iran through the use of some banks as fronts.  

  

Such a confrontation would certainly weaken the Sudanese government, which is eager to gain Washington's approval and cooperation with it, and tries to spare the domestic situation the effects of the Iranian-American conflict. However, the announcement of these sanctions may be the bubble that came out inadvertently to embarrass these forces and the government in the context of a sensitive and highly tense political situation internally, although there is still no confirmation of the issuance of US sanctions against these banks.  

  

Ambiguity over "sanctions"  

Several things can be noted regarding the recent US "sanctions" on Iraqi banks:  

  

First, the announcement of the "sanctions" did not come from an official US body, neither the US Treasury Department, nor the Federal Reserve Bank. There is also no announcement of these sanctions on the official page of either institution. The announcement came in a report by the Wall Street Journal, which attributed unnamed US officials and positions to say that the US Treasury Department and the Federal Bank decided to prevent 14 Iraqi banks from trading in dollars. Other news sources, English and Arabic, picked up the news about the American newspaper, and were not based on other official sources.  

  

Second, there has been no denial, confirmation, or comment from any official U.S. source on the sanctions. At the State Department's daily press briefing on July 24, five days after the Wall Street Journal report was released, the department's spokesman, Matthew Miller, was asked about the sanctions on the 14 Iraqi banks, and why the United States did not issue an official statement in this regard.  

  

Third, the Central Bank of Iraq confirmed the infliction of "sanctions" on these banks, after the spread of the news quoted from the American newspaper and its rapid transformation in the Iraqi political and media circles into something resembling a bomb. The day after the Wall Street Journal report was published, the bank issued an explanatory statement explaining the mechanism used to impose these "sanctions."  

  

It is noteworthy that the statement did not use the word "sanctions" in the US press leak, but rather the phrase "preventing Iraqi banks from dealing in dollars", which is an accurate description of what happened, meaning that the ban is temporary, and its lifting is linked to the ability of these banks to meet the necessary conditions to participate in dollar purchases supervised by the Central Bank. What is important about the Central Bank of Iraq's statement is that it gives relatively detailed information, which seems accurate, regarding the ban that can remove confusion on the subject. The bank pointed out that this ban came "against the background of auditing bank transfers for the past year (2022), before the implementation of the electronic platform, and before the formation of the current government as well."  

  

What does this mean? It is clear that these violations that led to the ban are old, but their announcement is recent, and that the "sanctions" were imposed using the old mechanism before the application of US electronic procedures in November last year, i.e. what is known as the electronic platform, whose introduction eliminated the need for the Central Bank to audit the activities of Iraqi banks participating in dollar purchases to ensure that they meet the conditions required for participation.  

  

According to the old mechanism, which lasted for many years, the Central Bank and a private supervision company carried out routine audits of documents and procedures followed by Iraqi banks participating in the currency sales window after the implementation of financial exchanges and not before. This window is the institutional arrangement under the supervision of the Central Bank of Iraq in cooperation with the US Federal Reserve Bank. Under this arrangement, these Iraqi banks were able to obtain United States dollars after submitting applications containing the necessary information regarding the purchase of products and goods that needed to be paid for in dollars. On the basis of these applications submitted through the Central Bank, these banks receive, after the approval of the US Federal Bank, the required amounts of dollars through the Central Bank in exchange for the latter's receipt of the equivalent amounts in Iraqi dinars.  

  

After these transfers, the Central Bank of Iraq and a specialized company routinely conduct supposedly careful audits to ensure the accuracy of the information provided by participating banks, including receipts for the purchase of goods. If these audits show that there are errors and violations, the Bank shall, as the case may be, issue warnings, fines or penalties to the violating banks, based on the size and gravity of the violation. In November 2022, after the United States required the use of the electronic platform in exchange operations, there is no longer a need to work with the previous audit mechanism, as the platform is the one that quickly examines the papers and information provided by participating Iraqi banks directly, and not through the Central Bank as was the case in the past, to accept financial transactions that meet the required conditions and reject financial transactions that contain violations.  

  

In light of the implementation of the electronic platform, the United States does not need to announce the imposition of sanctions on banks, as it is the platform itself that "punishes" violating banks by depriving them of the ability to obtain US dollars, i.e. automatic blocking through the platform itself. In the usual routine contexts, the United States issues sanctions against banks through the US Treasury Department under specific charges such as supporting terrorism, money laundering, or transferring it to entities under US sanctions such as Iran and Russia, as happened in the case of the "Elaph Islamic Bank of Iraq", which the US Treasury placed under sanctions in 2012, for dealing with an Iranian bank sanctioned by the United States, only to cancel the US Treasury after a year after the bank complied with US financial instructions.  

  

In the case of the 14 banks, they appear to be automatically excluded from using the currency window after the online platform came into effect last November. Only banks sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department can participate in the currency sales window until the U.S. Treasury decides to lift them. Thus, as long as the U.S. Treasury Department has not issued formal sanctions against the 14 Iraqi banks, they can correct the mistakes publicly indicated in the central bank statement and use the currency sales window to exchange money. Most likely, these banks, or most of them, will not do so because they appear to be actually involved in illegal operations to deliver money to U.S. sanctioned entities.  

  

This means, as a result, that the use of the term "sanctions" is not accurate and does not describe the situation of these banks. What happened is the administrative and routine deprivation of these banks from using the currency sales window due to violations they committed, and these banks can return to use the window if they meet the correct administrative conditions without the need for an American "political" decision that allows it.  

  

In the political context  

Apart from these technical details related to the alleged sanctions on these banks, there is a political aspect to the leak of news of the imposition of "sanctions" that are neither official nor confirmed by the United States against Iraqi banks. This "leak" has put the Iraqi government in an embarrassing position, showing it unable to impose the rule of law on banks that many Iraqis accuse of being financial fronts for Iraqi militia political movements that serve Iranian interests at the expense of Iraqi interests, even though the violations committed by these banks preceded the formation of the Sudanese government at the end of last year.  

  

Why, then, did the US leak the news of these "sanctions"? Two possibilities are similar. First, the leak is not intentional, and it occurred accidentally in the context of US officials showing a prestigious newspaper that the United States is making all the required efforts to combat the smuggling of funds to Iran within the framework of the application of US sanctions on it, and then using these sanctions as a tool to pressure the Islamic Republic, among other tools, to push it to sign a transitional nuclear agreement that has been talked about a lot in recent weeks. In this sense, the leak was not related to Iraq in the first place, nor did it contain deliberate political messages to the Iraqi government or the Coordination Framework, its dominant power.  

  

Second, the leak was deliberate, intended to show that the United States is maintaining pressure on Iran, in the sense of sending messages to Tehran, the American political public, and U.S. allies in the region concerned about what appears to be American inaction on Iran. But the results of this leak were negative and unexpected, in the sense that it embarrassed the Iraqi government, which is supposed to be Washington's ally, and showed it weak and unable to implement the reforms it promised in the financial and banking sector. Therefore, the official US commitment to silence, by not denying the authenticity of the leak or confirming it, suggests an American desire to contain the effects of the issue politically in Iraq, and to alleviate the embarrassment suffered by the Sudanese government.  

  

In Iraq, this US leak, despite the Central Bank of Iraq's rapid efforts to contain its negative effects to no avail, added more trouble to the Sudanese government, as it led to an increase in the price of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar at a time when the government has been seeking for months to control the exchange rate in the informal market, and make it identical or very close to its rate in the official market. The problem began with the central bank's decision in February to change its official exchange rate against the dinar from 14500,13200 to <>,<>.  

  

The goal is for the depreciation of the dollar to contribute to helping the poorest groups, because it leads to reducing the prices of imported basic consumer items, curbing inflation, and thus giving the Sudanese government some popularity, especially among the population groups, which were the main driver of the huge popular protest in 2019-2020, which the government fears may be repeated in the future. However, the continued appreciation of the exchange rate in the informal market, or what Iraqis call the "parallel market", has prevented the exchange rate change from translating into tangible benefit among the poor. Politically, the government's failure to control the exchange rate has turned into widespread and persistent criticism that it is incapable and lacks a viable plan.  

  

Conclusions  

Beyond the dollar exchange rate problems associated with the complex supply and demand economy, the exclusion of Iraq's 14 banks from participating in the currency sales window is arguably a positive development, whether due to official U.S. sanctions, Iraqi administrative sanctions, or a hitherto unclear combination of the two.  

  

This exclusion confirms that it is possible to control the window of currency sales in Iraq, especially with the entry into force of the electronic platform, so that it can more effectively and quickly prevent suspicious banking transactions, and significantly reduce the possibility of political interference in such banking operations in favor of smuggling operations that benefit Iran at the expense of legitimate Iraqi interests.  

  

[yota691]

Are you embarrassed Sudanese government?

Analysis from an Emirati center: No sanctions on Iraqi banks and the "temporary ban" is positive

2023.07.30 - 15:14

 

Baghdad - Nas  

An analysis by an Emirati center stated that the use of the term “sanctions”, in what happened to 14 Iraqi banks recently, is not accurate and the matter does not go beyond a temporary ban on using the currency sale window due to violations it committed, and its lifting is linked to fulfilling the correct administrative conditions without the need for an American political decision that allows it.  

 

According to the analysis written by the professor at the American University in Sulaymaniyah, "Aqil Abbas", for the Emirates Policy Center, followed by "NAS" on Sunday (July 03, 2023), that the American official commitment to silence, by not denying the validity of leaking or confirming the news of the "sanctions", suggests the existence of an American desire By limiting the effects of the issue politically in Iraq, and alleviating the embarrassment to which the Sudanese government was subjected.  

  

The analysis stressed that the exclusion of the 14 banks from participating in the currency sale window in Iraq indicates that it is possible to control this window, especially with the entry into force of the electronic platform, and to reduce the possibilities of political interference in suspicious banking operations.  

  

Here is the text of the analysis:  

Concern escalated in Iraq after the United States announced that it would punish 14 Iraqi banks and prevent them from dealing in US dollars, due to strong suspicions regarding their smuggling of dollars to Iran, which is under US economic and financial sanctions. This announcement led to an increase in the price of the dollar in the Iraqi parallel market, which is not subject to government control, to reach 1550 dinars, after it was around 1445 (noting that the official price of the dollar is set at 1320 dinars). Hence, the doors were opened to expectations of more political confrontation between the United States and the influential Shiite forces in Iraq that are loyal to Iran, which are usually accused of being behind the smuggling of dollars to Iran through the use of some banks as fronts for them.  

  

It is certain that such a confrontation will weaken the Sudanese government, which is eager to obtain Washington's approval and cooperation with it, and tries to spare the internal situation the effects of the Iranian-American conflict. However, the announcement of these sanctions may be the bubble that emerged unintentionally to embarrass these forces and the government in the context of a sensitive and highly tense political situation internally, although there is still no confirmation of the issuance of US sanctions against these banks.  

  

Ambiguity about "sanctions"  

Several things can be noted regarding the recent US "sanctions" on Iraqi banks:  

  

First, the announcement of the "sanctions" was not made by an official US body, neither from the US Treasury, nor from the Federal Reserve Bank. There is also no announcement of these penalties on the official page of either institution. The announcement came in a report by the American newspaper "The Wall Street Journal", which attributed to US officials whose names and positions were not mentioned, as saying that the US Treasury and the US Federal Bank decided to prevent 14 Iraqi banks from trading in dollars. Other news sources, both English and Arabic, picked up the news from this American newspaper, and did not rely on other official sources.  

  

Secondly, there was no denial, confirmation or comment from any official US source on this news of sanctions. In the daily press conference of the US State Department on July 24, that is, five days after the release of the "Wall Street Journal" report, the official spokesman for the ministry, Matthew Miller, was asked about the sanctions against the 14 Iraqi banks, and the reason why the United States did not issue an official statement in this regard. The spokesman's response was that he had nothing to comment on.  

  

Third, the Central Bank of Iraq confirmed the imposition of "sanctions" on these banks, after the spread of the news reported by the American newspaper and its rapid transformation in the Iraqi political and media circles into something like a bomb. The day after the Wall Street Journal report was published, the bank issued an explanatory statement explaining the mechanism used to impose these "sanctions".  

  

It is noticeable that the statement did not use the word "sanctions" mentioned in the American press leak, but rather the phrase "preventing Iraqi banks from dealing in dollars", which is an accurate description of what happened. In the sense that the ban is temporary, and its lifting is linked to the ability of these banks to meet the necessary conditions to participate in dollar purchases that are supervised by the Central Bank. The important thing in the statement of the Central Bank of Iraq is that it gives relatively detailed information, which seems accurate, regarding the prevention that can remove confusion on the subject. The bank indicated that this ban came “against the background of checking bank transfers for the past year (2022), and before the application of the electronic platform, and before the formation of the current government as well.”  

  

What does this mean? It is clear that these violations that led to the ban are old, but their announcement is recent, and that the “sanctions” were imposed using the old mechanism before the application of American electronic procedures in November of last year, i.e. what is known as the electronic platform whose introduction eliminated the need for the Central Bank to audit the activities of Iraqi banks. Participate in dollar purchases to ensure that they meet the conditions required for participation.  

  

According to the old mechanism, which continued to operate for many years, the Central Bank and a private monitoring company were conducting routine audits of the documents and procedures followed by the Iraqi banks participating in the currency sale window after the implementation of financial exchanges, not before. This window is the institutional arrangement under the supervision of the Central Bank of Iraq in cooperation with the US Federal Reserve Bank. Under this arrangement, these Iraqi banks were able to obtain US dollars after submitting requests that contain the necessary information regarding their purchase of products and goods that need to be paid for in dollars. On the basis of these requests submitted through the Central Bank, these banks obtain, after the approval of the US Federal Bank, the dollar amounts required through the Central Bank in exchange for the latter receiving the equivalent of these amounts in Iraqi dinars.  

  

After these transfers, the CBI, and a specialized firm, routinely perform supposedly careful checks to ensure the accuracy of the information provided by the participating banks, including receipts for the purchase of goods. If these audits show that there are errors and irregularities, the bank issues, as the case may be, warnings, fines, or penalties to the violating banks, based on the size and seriousness of the violation. And in November 2022, after the United States stipulated the use of the electronic platform in exchange operations, there was no longer a need to work with the previous audit mechanism, as the platform became the one that quickly examines the papers and information provided by the participating Iraqi banks directly, and not through the central bank as was the case in the past. To accept financial transactions that meet the required conditions and to reject financial transactions that have irregularities.  

  

In light of the application of the electronic platform, the United States does not need to announce the imposition of sanctions on banks, as the platform itself is responsible for “punishing” the violating banks by depriving them of the ability to obtain US dollars, i.e. automatic blocking through the platform itself. In the usual routine contexts, the United States issues sanctions against banks through the US Treasury in the context of specific charges such as supporting terrorism, money laundering, or transferring them to entities under US sanctions such as Iran and Russia, as happened in the case of the "Ilaf Islamic Iraqi Bank" that was set by the Treasury. The US government was subject to sanctions in 2012, due to its dealings with an Iranian bank that was sanctioned by the US. The US treasury canceled the penalty a year later, following the bank’s compliance with US financial instructions.  

  

In the case of the 14 banks, they seem to have been automatically excluded from using the currency sale window after the electronic platform entered into force last November. Only banks that have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department cannot participate in the currency sale window unless the US Treasury decides to lift these sanctions. Thus, as long as the US Treasury Department did not issue official sanctions against the 14 Iraqi banks, these banks are able to correct the mistakes that were generally referred to in the central bank statement, and use the currency sale window to exchange funds. Most likely, these banks, or most of them, will not do so because it seems that they are already involved in illegal operations to deliver money to entities covered by US sanctions.  

  

This means, in the end, that the use of the term "sanctions" is not accurate, and does not describe the situation of these banks. What happened is an administrative and routine denial of these banks from using the currency sale window due to violations they committed, and these banks can return to using the window if they meet the correct administrative conditions without the need for an American “political” decision that allows this.  

  

in the political context  

Apart from these technical details related to the alleged sanctions of these banks, there is a political aspect to the matter behind the leaking of the news of the imposition of "sanctions" that are neither official nor confirmed by the US against Iraqi banks. This "leaking" put the Iraqi government in an embarrassing situation, as it showed it unable to impose the rule of law on banks that many Iraqis accuse of being financial fronts for Iraqi militia political movements working to serve Iranian interests at the expense of Iraqi interests, even though the violations committed by these banks It preceded the formation of the Sudanese government at the end of last year.  

  

Why, then, did the American side leak the news of these "sanctions"? There are two similar possibilities in this regard. The first is that the leak is not intentional, and happened accidentally in the context of US officials showing to a reputable newspaper that the United States is making all required efforts to combat money smuggling to Iran within the framework of applying US sanctions on it, and then using these sanctions as a tool to put pressure on the Islamic Republic, within a set of tools Others, to push it to sign an interim nuclear agreement about which there has been much talk in the past weeks. In this sense, the leak was not originally related to Iraq, and did not include intended political messages for the Iraqi government or the "coordinating framework", the power that dominates it.  

  

The second possibility is that the leak was deliberate, and is intended to show the United States continuing to put pressure on Iran, in the sense of sending messages to Tehran, the American political public opinion, and US allies in the region who are worried about what appears to be US laxity regarding Iran. However, the results of this leak were negative and unexpected, in the sense that it embarrassed the Iraqi government, which is supposed to be Washington's ally, and showed it weak and incapable of implementing the reforms it promised in the financial and banking sector. Therefore, the official US commitment to silence, by not denying or confirming the authenticity of the leak, suggests an American desire to contain the effects of the issue politically in Iraq, and to alleviate the embarrassment to which the Sudanese government was subjected.  

  

On the Iraqi level, this American leak, despite the Iraqi Central Bank's rapid efforts to contain its negative effects in vain, added more troubles to the Sudanese government, as it led to an increase in the price of the US dollar against the Iraqi dinar at a time when the government has been seeking for months to control the exchange rate in the informal market. And make it the same or very close to its price in the official market. This problem started since the government-backed decision of the Central Bank last February to change its official exchange rate against the dinar from 14,500 to 13,200.  

  

The goal is for the devaluation of the dollar to contribute to helping the poorest groups, because it leads to lowering the prices of imported basic consumer goods, curbing inflation, and thus gaining some popularity for the Sudanese government, especially among the population groups that were the main engine of the massive popular protest in 2019-2020, which they fear. The government is likely to repeat it in the future. However, the continued rise in the exchange rate in the unofficial market, or what Iraqis call the "parallel market", prevented the translation of the change in the exchange rate into tangible benefit among the poor. Politically, the government's failure to control the exchange rate has turned into widespread and continuous criticism that it is powerless and lacks a viable plan in this regard.  

  

conclusions  

Away from the problems of the dollar exchange rate associated with the complex economy of supply and demand, it can be said that the exclusion of the 14 Iraqi banks from participating in the window for selling the currency is a positive development, whether due to official US sanctions or Iraqi administrative sanctions, or a mixture that is not yet clear of the two.  

  

This exclusion confirms that it is possible to control the window for selling currency in Iraq, especially with the entry into force of the electronic platform, so that it can more effectively and quickly prevent suspicious banking transactions, and greatly reduce the possibilities of political interference in such banking operations in favor of smuggling operations that benefit Including Iran at the expense of legitimate Iraqi interests.  

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A specialist who presents a reading of the dollar situation in the coming days. What should the Central Bank do?-Urgent

Economy | Today, 17:00 | 

A specialist who presents a reading of the dollar situation in the coming days. What should the Central Bank do?-Urgent » Baghdad Today News Agency

 

 

Baghdad Today - Baghdad

Today, Sunday (July 30, 2023), economic expert Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani confirmed that the dollar crisis in the country's parallel markets is on its way to a solution, while pointing to the need for the Central Bank to investigate the fact that the 14 banks are involved in smuggling dollars, and punish them instead of depriving them of the dollar only.

Al-Mashhadani said in an interview with "Baghdad Today", that "the exclusion of the Central Bank of the 14 banks, came according to data and evidence available to him from the US Treasury, after the report that was leaked to the media and identified by names," stressing that "the bank cannot proceed with this step without having specific data and evidence."

He added, "The US ambassador's tweet yesterday came to confirm the absence of new sanctions on the Central Bank of Iraq, expressing surprise at "the emergence of some statements in this direction, as it cannot be punished for its international immunity."

He pointed out that "the banks that were excluded from the window of selling the currency acquire 8% of the dollar sold, meaning that their share reaches only $ 30 million, but they finance dozens of exchange companies, so the Central Bank has taken a series of measures, including converting the link of 116 exchange companies to other banks to address the problem of the dollar and push to reduce its exchange rates and solve the problem."

He continued, "The Central Bank is supposed not to take the decision to exclude the 14 banks before conducting an investigation, and if it is proven, penalties will be taken against them, including withdrawing the license and referring them to the judiciary if it is proven that they are involved in money laundering or smuggling."

[yota691]

The US ambassador in Baghdad announces the success of her mediation between the Iraqi Central Bank and the US Treasury

2023-07-29 12:46

 

Shafaq News/ The US Ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romansky, announced that the US Treasury will not impose sanctions on Iraqi banks due to money laundering fears.

 

"Yesterday, I participated in a call between the Treasury Department and the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) about the recent US measures to restrict 14 Iraqi banks from dollar services after money laundering concerns," the ambassador wrote in a tweet on Twitter.

 

She added, "CBI took appropriate and prompt measures. No sanctions were imposed on any Iraqi banks. We will continue our work to improve compliance with AML/CFT regulations and digitize the Iraqi economy with our CBI partners."

 

On Wednesday, July 19, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on 14 Iraqi banks in a crackdown on Iran's dollar transactions.

[yota691]

Economic circles suggest the return of calm to the currency exchange markets in Iraq

2023.07.31 - 15:13

 

Baghdad - Nas  

Iraqi economic and financial circles suggested that calm would prevail again in the local currency exchange markets during the coming period, after the US decisions regarding the activities of banks in the oil-producing country caused unrest recently, according to a report by the London-based Al-Arab newspaper.  

 

Economic expert Abd al-Rahman al-Mashhadani predicted, in a statement to the official Iraqi News Agency, that the exchange rate would soon drop to around 1,400 dinars to the dollar.  

  

Al-Mashhadani said, "The issuance of the US Treasury's decision to prevent 14 Iraqi banks from dealing in dollars caused fluctuations in the exchange rate between high and low."  

  

He added, "The government subsequently applied a series of measures based on the Prime Minister's directives, which coincided with other measures from the Central Bank."  

  

The Central Bank authorized about 116 exchange companies to obtain their shares of the dollar from new banks other than those that had been issued a decision to prevent them, and this matter will contribute to the rise in the value of the dinar against the dollar again.  

  

Al-Mashhadani emphasized that “these measures will restore prices to what they were before the crisis, but more than that. There are also government measures to reduce taxes imposed on entering the currency auction, and this will lead to the stability of prices, which we expect to reach 1400 dinars to the dollar.  

  

The Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alaq, had confirmed that the rise in the exchange rate was temporary and that the bank had diagnosed the manipulators, while noting that the government had approved a proposal by the bank to ease tax procedures to obtain the dollar.  

  

He also explained that preventing Iraqi banks from dealing in dollars came against the background of checking bank transfers for the past year, and before the application of the electronic platform, and before the formation of the current government as well.  

  

Last week, dozens of people organized a protest movement in front of the Central Bank, and bank owners called for official action from government agencies to stop the sharp rise in the dollar exchange rate, which followed the inclusion of 14 Iraqi banks on the blacklist by the United States.  

  

The market price of the dollar at that time jumped from 1470 to about 1570 dinars after Washington banned Iraqi banks from conducting transactions in US dollars on suspicion of using them for money laundering and transferring funds to Iran.  

  

Haider Al-Shamaa, owner of a private bank in Baghdad, said on the sidelines of a press conference last Wednesday that "the inclusion of nearly a third of private banks in the list of those prohibited from dealing in US dollars will have serious consequences."  

  

Al-Shamaa called on the Iraqi government to work to prevent the damage caused to the owners of private banks.  

  

According to the Central Bank, local banks that are deprived of dealing in dollars, their requests constitute only about 8 percent of the total foreign transfers.  

  

Last Wednesday, Al-Alaq told the official Iraqi News Agency that the central bank continues to provide dollars at the official rate of 1,320 dinars to the dollar “for all legitimate transactions,” including “transfers and credits for various imports.”  

  

After the US invasion of Iraq nearly two decades ago, specifically since 2004 until now, the exchange rate has changed more than once, according to circumstances, whether it is upward or downward.  

  

And the government decided in last year's budget to reduce the value of the dinar by 1450 dinars per dollar, after it was 1182 dinars per dollar, in order to face the financial crisis and the deterioration of the local economy.  

  

The decision caused a crisis in the local market, as prices of commodities and merchandise rose in the local markets, harming the working class.  

  

Experts said that the main reason behind the devaluation of the Iraqi currency at that time was to bridge the inflation gap that emerged clearly last year during the epidemic and with the continued collapse of global oil prices, which is a major source of Iraqi financial resources.  

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Sudanese advisor: The dollar fell 60 points against the dinar and the government will control the market

economy

 

 

31-Jul-2023

(GETTY)

Advisor to the Prime Minister Fadi al-Shammari said on Monday that the dollar exchange rate fell by 60 points following the measures taken by the Central Bank.

Al-Shammari described the measures as "accurate and effective", noting that "the Iraqi government seeks to control the rhythm of the financial market, encourage traders to carry out legitimate financial transactions, and ease administrative procedures"

 

The Central Bank of Iraq allowed more than 100 exchange companies to receive their shares from other banks instead of the banks that were sanctioned following the US decision

 

Al-Shammari predicted that "the decisions to reduce taxes will contribute to increasing the value of the Iraqi dinar during the coming period."

 

 

 

Al-Sudani's adviser revealed that the measures taken by the Central Bank of Iraq included "transferring 116 exchange companies that received their weekly shares of dollars from the sanctioned banks to other banks."

It also included easing the taxes imposed, al-Shammari said, noting that "the central bank diagnosed the manipulators, which effectively contributed to the stability of the dinar exchange rate."

On Saturday (July 29th), US Ambassador Alina Romanowski said the Fed's measures "are not a sanction for Iraqi banks" but rather "a restriction of dollar services following money laundering concerns".

Economist Nabil al-Marsoumi predicted that the central bank would allow the 14 banks deprived of dealing in dollars to return to the currency window.

The decree went further, suggesting that these banks would likely claim compensation for losses incurred as a result of the central bank's decision issued immediately after the announcement of the US sanctions.

The central bank has previously denied withdrawing the capital of private banks following the US decision to prevent them from conducting dollar transactions as part of a campaign to prevent the smuggling of dollars to Iran, according to US officials.

 

The bank said that depriving banks of dollar transactions comes against the backdrop of "an audit of bank transfers for the past year, and before the formation of the current government" in the country, while issuing an order preventing these banks from obtaining dollars from the currency window.

 

[yota691]

Specialists: The dollar crisis is economic and political

The first  2023/08/01

 

 

 Baghdad: Hoda Al-Azzawi

The exchange rate crisis reared its head again in the local markets after US sanctions included 14 banks that prevented them from dealing in hard currency and entering the currency auction. And economic. The rapporteur of the Finance Committee in the former parliament, Ahmed Al-Saffar, said in an interview with "Al-Sabah" that "the instability of the dollar exchange rate makes us think that it is caused by a political, economic and financial one," noting that "the Iraqi economy is in the hands of politicians, meaning that politics is what drives The economy." Al-Saffar explained that "the political class, since 2003, has not been able to set a financial and economic policy to rebuild the Iraqi economy, but it has deliberately increased dependence on oil rents."

[yota691]

The oil-for-gas agreement between Iraq and Iran enters into force

• Time: 08/01/2023 12:09:44
•  
• Read: 1,352 times

  

{Economic: Al Furat News} The barter agreement (oil for gas) between Iraq and Iran entered into force, starting today, Tuesday, August 1.

 

Hamid Hosseini, head of Iran's Petroleum Products Exporters Union, declared in a statement to Iranian media that: "Iraq will send us about 30,000 barrels of crude oil and 70,000 barrels of diesel in exchange for gas exports, starting in August."

He explained the volume of electricity and gas exports to Iraq and the amount of oil and other products imports in the form of barter, noting that, according to the statistics announced by the National Iranian Gas Company, we exported 18 billion cubic meters of gas last year, most of which went to Turkey and Iraq.

He added: “We exported an average of 25 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey and the same amount also to Iraq, and the export quantities may vary in some seasons of the year to reach 50 million cubic meters per day, but when we face a shortage of gas in the winter, this quantity decreases significantly.” Where 9-10 billion cubic meters of gas must be delivered to Iraq every year according to the agreement signed between the two countries, and this amount can decrease or increase in certain seasons of the year.

Referring to the value of electricity and gas exports to Iraq, Hosseini mentioned: “The Iraqi government announced that it imported 3 billion and 800 million dollars of gas in 2022, and since Iraq does not import gas from any other country, we can say that the total value of that value is attributed to Iranian exports. In addition to this, we have exported $700 million in electricity. Therefore, Iran has exported $4.5 billion in electricity and gas to Iraq over the past year.”

It is noteworthy that Iraq and Iran signed an agreement in Baghdad on July 11, according to which the imported Iranian gas, which operates power stations, will be exchanged for Iraqi crude oil and black oil.
The agreement was reached, according to the Prime Minister's Office, "after negotiations that lasted for several days, in which delegations and technical and technical committees from both sides participated."

A statement by the office stated, "This agreement is within the framework of the government's effort to address the crisis of supplying gas that powers power stations, and avoid financing problems and the complexities of US sanctions that prevented the continuity of payment of import requirements. ".

[yota691]

The U.S.’s Hopes In Iraq Have Ended With The Oil-For-Gas Deal With Iran

By Simon Watkins - Jul 31, 2023, 12:00 PM CDT

• The U.S. has for years been giving Iraq tens of billions of dollars to help with its finances on the specific condition that the country reduces its imports of gas and electricity from Iran eventually to zero.
• Iran has wielded enormous power over Iraq for a very long time indeed through its various political, economic, and military proxies.
• Iraq will pay with its own oil supplies for the gas and electricity that it has long been importing from Iran.

 

Ever since the U.S. officially ended its ‘combat mission’ in Iraq on 31 December 2021, it has been looking for a way back into the huge but still relatively untapped oil and gas regions of the country. Iraq knows this perfectly well and has sought since then to exploit this need for money from the U.S. whilst having no intention of allowing it to return in any meaningful way. Many analysts trace this reluctance back to the U.S.’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 or to its continued military presence there until 2011, but although neither of these factors helped the U.S.’s ambitions in Iraq, neither of them put the final nail in their coffin either. This came with its unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – or colloquially, ‘the nuclear deal’ – with Iran in May 2018. Iran has wielded enormous power over Iraq for a very long time indeed through its various political, economic, and military proxies and the death knell of the deal with Iraq meant the same for any ambitions the U.S. had in Iraq. The game plays from Iraq and the U.S. around this starting position were seen again last week but, as in the end of Macbeth’s fleeting moment of glory, these threats and counter-threats are ‘full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’: the game is already over, and the U.S. lost.

The last week or so has seen a series of statements from both the U.S. and Iraq surrounding Baghdad’s staggeringly omni-toxic idea that Iraq will pay with its own oil supplies for the gas and electricity that it has long been importing from Iran.

This is less of a slap in the face for Washington than a baseball bat in the crotch, as the U.S. has for years been giving Iraq tens of billions of dollars to help with its finances on the specific condition that the country reduces its imports of gas and electricity from Iran eventually to zero. For the U.S., the ending of Iraq’s reliance on Iran for around 40 percent of its power grid needs (through gas and electricity imports) would have provided an excellent starting point for American companies to move back into Iraq to begin a new commercially-based chapter in the two countries’ history. To encourage Iraq towards this end, the U.S. has granted waivers to it to continue to import gas and electricity from Iran to manage this transition away from dependence on its neighbor. Accompanying these waivers have been massive injections of U.S. funding into Iraq, usually following a visit to Washington in August or September each year by whoever was Iraq prime minister at the time to ask for money to bail out the Iraq budget. The principal reason why the Iraq budget needs bailing out every year is because of the industrial-scale corruption that lies at the heart of its oil sector administration. This offensive maneuver from the Iraqi playbook is such a regular annual feature in Washington that for a long time, a very senior U.S. legal source closely connected to such discussions exclusively told OilPrice.com some years ago, it has been known as ‘the Baghdad Ballet’. 

 

Up until now, the most shocking betrayal of the U.S.’s optimistic trust in Iraq in this context came from the ultra-smooth Mustafa al-Kadhimi. He had danced the usual dance with the U.S. so well that in May 2020 Washington gave him even more money than before and the longest waiver ever given – 120 days – to keep importing gas and electricity from Iran, on the standard condition that Iraq stopped doing it soon. However, once the money had been banked and al-Kadhimi was safely back on home territory, Iraq signed a two-year contract – the longest period ever – with Iran to keep importing gas and electricity from it. Washington let the formidable then-State Department spokeswoman, Morgan Ortagus, out of her room, and she let fly. Not only was the next waiver to Iraq the shortest ever – 30 days – but also at the press conference in which it was announced, Ortagus let it be known that the U.S. was hitting 20 Iran- and Iraq-based entities with swinging new sanctions. She cited them as being instruments in the funneling of money to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) elite Quds Force, which was entirely true. She added that the 20 entities were continuing to exploit Iraq’s dependence on Iran as an electricity and gas source by smuggling Iranian petroleum through the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr and money laundering through Iraqi front companies, which was also true. She also said that Washington was extremely concerned that Iraq was continuing to act as a conduit for Iranian oil and gas supplies to make their way out into the world’s major export markets.

Even against this backdrop of stunning betrayals, though, this new idea from Iraq is of an unprecedentedly omni-toxic variety. Given tangential comments from the current Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed al-Sudani, it may well be assumed that Baghdad knows this and, if this is the case, it might well be the latest ruse in this year’s effort to gain another waiver (including allowing Iraqi payments to be made through the regular Iranian banking system), and more multi-billion dollar funding from the U.S. Specifically, and apparently with no sense of the irony involved, al-Sudani said that Iraq has no choice but to start paying for Iranian gas and electricity imports with Iraqi oil because U.S. sanctions on Iran has made it difficult for Iraq to make payments through traditional banking routes. Al-Sudani also said that such supplies are vital because of the rolling power cuts that are occurring across Iraq during the frying-pan heat of the summer. 

Two veiled threats to the U.S. were also made by al-Sudani. The first of these was via Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) and was that the country’s long-term oil production prospects could be severely damaged through this oil-for-gas barter deal with Iran. Specifically, to meet the terms of the deal, Iraq would have to accelerate production from its biggest fields in the south, which could damage the structures of the wells, and reduce their longevity and overall production yields. The threat to the U.S. from this is twofold. First, it means that if the U.S. did return to Iraq then many of its top oilfields would be irrevocably damaged; and second, it means that Iraqi oil production would decline over time, which would drive oil prices higher, which the U.S. and its allies do not want. The second threat, made through Iraq’s Oil Minister, Hayyan Abdul Ghani, was that such a deal may also result in even greater co-operation between Iraq and Iran on joint oil field exploration and development, and the exchange of technical and engineering services. For the U.S., this would mean some of Iraq’s major fields would be excluded from any of its future development plans forever, and possibly even worse than that would be directly under the influence of China. Effective control over all of Iran’s oil and gas fields was given to China back in 2018 through the ‘Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement’. 

For the moment, it appears that the U.S. is going through the five phases of grief associated with the death of its idea for Iraq perhaps: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Judging from the latest terse comment from the U.S. State Department – “The March 2023 waiver, granted by the Secretary, allows Iraq to purchase electricity from Iran - nothing else.” – it may still be at the ‘denial stage’.  When it reaches ‘acceptance’, it may well be that it follows the usual format of these dances and grants another waiver to Iraq to keep importing gas and electricity from Iran, including being allowed to pay for it through regular means, and gives it a few more billion dollars. At that point, it might also be expected that Iraq will drop the idea of the oil-for-gas deal with Iran – at least until that waiver runs out too.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

[yota691]

Jul. 28, 2023

 

Deep Dive: The significance of Iran-Iraq energy swaps

Iran/Economy

 

Bijan Khajehpour

A view of the refineries of the South Pars Gas Complex in Assaluyeh, Iran on Apr. 15, 2023. (Photo via Shana news agency)

 

Baghdad and Tehran earlier this month signed a deal to swap Iranian natural gas for Iraqi crude and fuel oil. If implemented, the July 17 accord will facilitate Iran’s energy exports to its western neighbor—but may also introduce new complications caused by US sanctions.

 

History of agreements and exports

Iran and Iraq first began negotiations on gas trade in 2010. An initial agreement on supplying Baghdad’s Bismaya power plant with Iranian natural gas was reached in 2013. Two years later, in 2015, it was agreed that an electric power plant in the southern city of Basra would also be fed with Iranian gas.

After extensive delays, Iran initiated exports for the Baghdad plant in 2017 and to Basra in 2018.

As an informed senior source in Baghdad previously explained to Amwaj.media, assuming 50 million cubic meters (mcm) a day of natural gas imports, such a volume could be used to generate up to 7 GW, or just over a third of Iraq’s supply. Of note, Iran also feeds the Iraqi power grid with electricity exports, though the latter constitutes only 5-10% of national supply.

In other words, Iranian gas is so indispensable for Iraq’s power generation that even during former US president Donald Trump’s (2017-21) “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic, Washington regularly issued sanctions waivers to facilitate Iraq receiving energy from its eastern neighbor. This practice has been continued under the incumbent Joe Biden administration (2021-). The most recent such waiver—the 20^th in total, and valid for 120 days—was issued on July 18.

 

Current juncture

According to official data, the volume of Iranian gas exports was 9.4B cubic meters (bcm) in 2022. There are plans to extend existing gas export deals for another five years. However, dissatisfied with Iraq’s apparent use of US secondary sanctions as a pretext not to pay for its imports, Tehran decided to cut the export volume by half in May of this year. This caused electricity shortages and disruptions to economic activity in Iraq—including oil production, the country’s economic life line.

Even though Iranian officials cited technical issues as the reason for their action, it was clear that Tehran wanted to force Baghdad to find a solution to settle Iraq’s debt in lieu of the gas exports.

In late June, sources from both sides announced that Iraq would receive the needed licenses from the US to settle some of its ballooning debt. Furthermore, the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce announced that about 10B USD of Iranian funds in Iraq had been released. However, the concerned commercial interactions are more complex than meets the eye, and the word “released” can be confusing.

In many of their regional export agreements, Iranian entities appoint a “trustee” and also a “trustee bank account.” This enables  the company that receives the exports to settle its debt by transferring funds to a designated “trustee bank account." In this case, the trustee account is with the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI). So when the Iraqi government states that it has paid its debts to Iran for energy imports, it generally means that funds have been transferred to TBI. What Iran would like to see is for TBI to release the restricted funds into Iran’s full control.

Partly addressing this dynamic, the US State Department spokesman on July 19 confirmed that a new waiver for Iraq to import Iranian energy has been issued. Importantly, he elaborated that “the one thing that is different about this renewal is that this latest package also expands the waiver to authorize the transfer of funds….to restricted accounts in select third-party banks.”

In June, the US reportedly gave the green light for a portion of Iranian funds to be transferred to Turkmenistan, to settle Iranian debts. Another portion was permitted to go to Saudi Arabia, to cover Haj pilgrims. However, as a senior Iranian source told Amwaj.media at the time, there were no plans to move any money to Iran. Also speaking on the condition that his name be withheld, an Arab source stated that 1.5B EUR worth of frozen Iranian assets had been disbursed and that another 1B EUR tranche was due to be settled.

Against this backdrop, the US State Department on July 24 said that Oman has “indicated a willingness” to hold some of the Iranian funds in Iraq and that “we expect that to happen.” Washington further underscored that the money can only be used for non-sanctionable activities and that all transactions need approval from the US in advance.

 

Enter the swap deal

Whether in Iraq or in other accounts in the region, the agreement seems to be that Iran can only use its restricted funds for the importation of humanitarian and non-sanctioned commodities.  However, in practice, banks such as TBI need to secure a separate license for every single transaction, adding to the existing legal and operational bottlenecks. This is why the planned swap of Iranian gas for Iraqi crude and fuel oil could lead to new opportunities for Iran. 

A different version of the swap deal was in place for the past few years, involving the swapping of Iranian gas for a daily volume of 80 trucks of crude oil entering Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan. This approach could be justified in Iran because the imported crude was feeding refineries in the western provinces of Arak and Kermanshah, freeing up Iran’s own oil for export from terminals in the south of the country.

However, larger volumes of Iraqi oil would have to be exported and cannot easily be absorbed domestically in Iran. Depending on the location of delivery, Iran could use some of the fuel oil in its domestic industry and free up supplies for export from its southern ports.

The new deal includes details on the quantities of fuel oil and crude that Iraq will provide to Iran in return for the export of 45 mcm per day of gas going to Iraq. What is unclear at this stage is whether Iraq will deliver some of its products directly to Iran’s clients, potentially shifting the responsibility of interacting with the customers to Tehran. Operational details will probably emerge in the next few weeks. The two sides have agreed to continue the swap deal for six months and then assess whether it is appealing.

 

Deeper dynamics

It is not the first time that Tehran has used swap agreements to more effectively use its own vast energy resources and also putting geography to work.

In 2021, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan signed a trilateral agreement for a gas swap. Furthermore, Iran and Azerbaijan have a gas-for-electricity swap agreement to provide energy to the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan. In addition, Moscow and Tehran have signed a swap agreement to barter Russian gas for Iranian oil. The latter would allow Iran to feed its northern petrochemical units and power plants with Russian gas while offering its own crude oil and petroleum products to Russian clients. 

In all of these swap agreements, the common denominator is that Iran saves on the transmission of gas or petroleum products across the country. The accords also create interdependencies and will impact investment and capacity building patterns in the country.

While the Iran-Iraq swap deal has come about due to the debt settlement bottlenecks, there is also a very familiar configuration at play. Ever since Iran began developing its gas sector, the core pattern has been to utilize the gas resources domestically to free up crude oil and petroleum products for export. Selling crude to international clients was more aligned with a mercantilist approach, especially as gas export by pipeline creates long-term dependencies—a phenomenon that sanctions-hit Iran wanted to prevent.

Tehran expects that exporting Iraqi petroleum products to its expanding client base will be more feasible than finding solutions to repatriating funds from an Iraqi or other regional bank. However, it remains to be seen whether US sanctions enforcement authorities will find an issue with the new swap agreement. In fact, some US officials opine that the deal will likely violate American extra-territorial sanctions.

Yet, the current complexities of regional relations will in all likelihood mean that the actual enforcement of sanctions will remain fluid for the time being. This will allow regional players to develop cooperation and trade relationships more proactively. For example, it will be interesting to see whether the latest 120-day sanctions waiver issued by the US for Iraq to import Iranian energy will also pave the way for greater flexibility on Iraqi banks to pay for Iranian imports.

In any case, the recent episode between Iran and Iraq shows once again how interdependent the two neighbors have become over the past few years.  Iraq relies on Iranian gas exports to provide electricity for its people and industry—and this reliance will continue as Iraq does not have an alternative in the short and medium term. Iran, on the other hand, needs Iraq as a major regional export market. These are only minor dimensions of a multi-faceted relationship which will be difficult for any party to disrupt.

[yota691]

Iraq will send 30 thousand barrels of crude oil to Iran

 

money and business
   

Economy News - Baghdad
The head of Iran's Petroleum Products Exporters' Union, Hamid Hosseini, announced that "Iraq will send us about 30,000 barrels of crude oil and 70,000 barrels of diesel in exchange for gas exports, starting next August."

Hosseini said, during an interview with the Iranian "ILNA" agency, followed by "Al-Iqtisad News", that "his country exported 18 billion cubic meters of gas last year, most of which went to Turkey and Iraq," adding that "Iran exported 4.5 billion dollars of electricity." And gas to Iraq during the past year only.

Regarding the incompleteness of the prisoner exchange deal with Europe, the head of the Association of Petroleum Products Exporters in Iran explained, "It was agreed at some point to release European prisoners in exchange for the release of 2 billion and 700 million dollars from Iran's frozen resources in Iraq, but the agreement was not completed." However, only a part of the gas dues in Turkmenistan was collected and part of it was paid to the pilgrims.

Hosseini stressed that "this issue prompted Iran to cut off electricity and gas exports to Iraq, which led to the imposition of a kind of pressure on America by the Iraqi government, the media and political parties, considering that the electricity situation in Iraq has become critical due to the decrease in Iran's gas exports by about 5000 megawatts, so that the atmosphere has become unbearable with the extreme high temperatures.

He pointed out that after these pressures, America allowed the Iraqi electricity debts to be deposited to Iran in non-Iraqi banks for a period of 120 days, in an attempt to solve part of the problem, noting that "if Iraq could start bartering in August and the American interventions could not hinder its implementation, it will continue to do so." The future so that we can fully meet the 20 million dollars a day dues, and receive other goods in exchange for previous debts.

 

 

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Views 23

Added 08/02/2023 - 1:50 PM

[yota691]

US Treasury and Federal Reserve Ban 14 Iraqi Banks from USD Transactions

 

The United States Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank of New York have banned 14 Iraqi banks from conducting US dollar (USD) transactions. This follows concerns that US currency could be redirected to sanctioned individuals and possibly benefit Iran. The sanctions – which contrast with recent steps by the Biden administration to improve relations with Iran – are part of an attempt to stem the flow of United States currency to Iran and other sanctioned jurisdictions.

Activity Suspected of Benefitting Iran

According to US officials, the measures respond to recently-uncovered evidence of illicit activity committed by the banks, including fraud and money laundering. According to the Wall Street Journal, one official went on record, saying, “We have strong reason to suspect that at least some of these laundered funds could end up going to benefit either designated individuals or individuals who could be designated. …[T]he primary sanctions risk…relates to Iran.” 

The new bank ban follows similar restrictions imposed against four Iraqi banks in September 2020, which barred the institutions from participating in “dollar auctions” – a process that involved Iraq’s central bank providing dollars to commercial banks in exchange for dinars. The ban also follows a tightening of wire transfer controls that occurred in 2022 by the US Treasury and the Central Bank of Iraq, which saw plummeting values in Iraqi currency. The current measures are expected to have a similar economic impact.

The US Dollar and Financial Crime in Iraq

USD plays a vital role in the Iraqi economy.  However, the practice of using Iraqi banks to transfer US funds to Iran has raised concerns, prompting joint efforts between the US and Iraq to address the issue. During a press conference in February 2023, US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price confirmed this bilateral approach, stating: 

When we engage with our Iraqi partners, we do often talk about the challenges that we confront in the region and well beyond. Many of those challenges are challenges to both of our interests. Iranian-backed forces in some cases pose a challenge to both of our interests.

So when we talk about sanctions, we don’t talk about it in terms of what we are demanding of our Iraqi partners. We talk about it in terms of what is good for both of our countries, and there is a lot that is good for both of our countries.

Source: US Department of State

Iran has been the target of a range of US sanctions since the 1979 revolution. While the original sanctions were lifted in 1981, new sanctions were imposed throughout the 1980s by the Carter and Reagan administrations in response to Iran’s actions in the Persian Gulf and its support for militant groups associated with terrorist activities. Since then, the US has issued further designations in response to a wide range of other alleged Iranian illicit activity, including:

• State terrorism and overseas interference by the Iranian intelligence services and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
• Support for extremist Islamist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
• Human rights abuses.
• Cyber criminality.
• Attempts to develop military nuclear technology and ballistic missiles. 

Key Takeaways

The Office of Financial Assets Control (OFAC) enforces the US sanctions regime. Unlike other sanctions regimes, which apply only to those subject to the legal authority of the sanctioning authority (primary sanctions), the US also imposes sanctions on non-US citizens and entities engaging with designated targets (secondary sanctions). The recent Iraqi bank bans highlight the importance of ensuring a holistic sanctions screening approach. 

Such an approach should consider not only named targets on the US sanctions list but also entities that may be covertly involved with those entities. This requires a carefully-designed anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) program tailored to a firm’s specific risks. This is particularly true for firms based in areas used as locations for Iranian

clandestine procurement and commodity trading, who will need to take care to mitigate risks from Iranian evasion activities using proxy front companies.  

Any suitable OFAC sanctions-compliant program should be based on an up-to-date enterprise-wide risk assessment (EWRA) and feature robust and up-to-date OFAC sanctions screening tools – along with the following measures:

• Customer due diligence (CDD) – This includes establishing each customer’s identity during onboarding, undertaking enhanced due diligence (EDD) for high-risk customers, and continuously monitoring and updating customer patterns and information.
• Transaction screening and monitoring – Screening and monitoring customer transactions is critical to preventing and mitigating sanctions evasion attempts.
• Politically exposed persons (PEPs) coverage – Firms should ensure they have tailored PEP screening and monitoring practices to mitigate the higher financial crime risks these individuals are exposed to.
• Adverse media monitoring – Firms should monitor for adverse media stories that involve their customers and that reveal association with sanctions targets.

[yota691]

Iran: In coordination with our Sudanese friend, we succeeded in passing the Iraqi oil-for-gas deal despite America's nose

 

Last updated: August 2, 2023 - 12:10 PM

 Baghdad / Iraq News Network - The head of the Association of Petroleum Products Exporters in Iran, Hamid Hosseini, announced that “Iraq will send us about 30,000 barrels of crude oil and 70,000 barrels of diesel in exchange for gas exports, starting from 1/8/2023.” Hosseini said. During an interview with the Iranian “ILNA” agency, he said that his country “exported 18 billion cubic meters of gas last year, most of which went to Turkey and Iraq,” adding that “Iran exported $4.5 billion of electricity and gas to Iraq during the past year alone.” ". Regarding the incompleteness of the prisoner exchange deal with Europe, the head of the Association of Petroleum Products Exporters in Iran explained, “It was agreed at some point to release European prisoners in exchange for the release of 2 billion and 700 million dollars from Iran’s frozen resources in Iraq, but the agreement was not completed.” However, only part of the gas dues in Turkmenistan were collected and part of it was paid to the pilgrims. Hosseini stressed that "this issue prompted Iran to cut off electricity and gas exports to Iraq, which led to the imposition of a kind of pressure on America by the Iraqi government, the media and political parties, considering that the electricity situation in Iraq has become critical due to the decrease in Iran's gas exports by about 5000 megawatts, so that the atmosphere has become unbearable with the extreme rise in temperatures.” He pointed out that after these pressures, America allowed the Iraqi electricity debts to be deposited to Iran in non-Iraqi banks for a period of 120 days, in an attempt to solve part of the problem, noting that “if Iraq could start bartering in August and American interventions could not hinder its implementation, it will continue to do so.” The future so that we can meet the full dues amounting to $ 20 million per day, and receive other goods in exchange for previous debts.

[yota691]

US agency: The oil agreement between Iraq and Iran disappoints Washington

2023.08.04 - 17:35

 

Baghdad - Nas  

Oil Price Network published a report on the gas deal between Iraq and Iran, saying that it destroyed Washington's dreams and interests in Iraq.  

 

  

The report, which was followed by "NAS", (August 4, 2023), says, "Although the United States spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq to get Baghdad to abandon trade relations with Tehran, the Baghdad government managed to escape Washington's control thanks to the oil deal." exchange for gas between Iraq and Iran.  

  

According to the report, "The United States has repeatedly tried to force Iraq to cancel the gas import contract with Iran, but the new agreement between Baghdad and Tehran that Iraq gives oil to Tehran in exchange for gas was toxic news to Washington, and thus lost American control over Iraq."  

  

It is noteworthy that on July 11, Iraq and Iran signed an agreement to supply Baghdad with oil to Tehran in exchange for gas for power plants in Iraq.  

[gregp]

Poor Joe Blow Blew it. 

[yota691]

An Iranian organization responds to Iraqi parliamentary accusations of smuggling dollars through Argentina

2023.08.06 - 10:45

 

Baghdad - Nas  

The Petroleum Products Exporters Union responded to the recent statements of an Iraqi parliament member about smuggling dollars to Iran via Argentina, and called for the parliament, parties and the Central Bank of Iraq to be held accountable for the "big accusation".  

 

And the news site "Intekhab" quoted a spokesman for the Petroleum Exporters' Union, Hamid Hosseini, as saying that "a member of the financial committee in the Iraqi parliament, Muhammad Nuri Aziz, made a very big accusation against Iran in a television program, and the accusation was similar to the accusations of Iraqi nationalists and Baathists."  

  

According to the report, Hosseini said, "Iran has been the most supportive of the Iraqi government, and has constantly tried to establish security in Iraq. It has not taken electricity and gas money from Iraq for years because Iraq's security is our security. This accusation must be pursued and investigated."  

  

A spokesman for the Iranian Petroleum Exporters Union called on "Parliament, the Central Bank, the Chamber of Commerce and the Iraqi parties" to take a stand against this "big accusation," and stressed that "the Iranian embassy should also seek to follow up on the matter."  

  

According to Hosseini, if someone had said something similar in the Iranian parliament, "the whole of Iraq would have taken a stand against it."  

  

A member of the Finance Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Muhammad Nuri Aziz, said on July 31, on a TV program: "Millions of Iraqi dinars were printed in Argentina, then transported to Iran by trucks, after converting them into US dollars."  

[yota691]

11 hours ago, gregp said:

Poor Joe Blow Blew it. 

It Rich Joe (aka the Big Guy) Blew it

[gregp]

1 hour ago, yota691 said:

It Rich Joe (aka the Big Guy) Blew it

Amen. 

[yota691]

Iran: Iraq paid part of its debts and the sums were transferred to a third country

• Time: 08/07/2023 11:36:16
•  
• Read: 1,703 times

{Economic: Al Furat News} The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Iraq had paid part of its debt to Iran for supplying gas to it.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a press conference today that: "These funds have been transferred to a third country," stressing that "technical talks will continue regarding this."

The US State Department announced last month that part of Iran's money in Iraqi banks would be transferred to the Sultanate of Oman.

And she indicated that these funds will be kept in Oman, but Iraqi restrictions on these funds will also apply in Oman, and these funds can only be used for humanitarian and non-sanctioned purposes, and any transfer must be approved by the US Treasury.

  

 

[yota691]

Iraq pays part of its debt to Iran through a third country

2023-08-07 04:35

 

Shafaq News/ The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, on Monday, that Iraq has paid part of its debts for the supply of gas.

 

The Foreign Ministry said, according to Al-Jazeera, that "Iraq paid part of its debts to Iran, and these funds were transferred to a third country."

 

"Technical talks will continue," she added.

 

It is noteworthy that the head of the Iranian-Iraqi Chamber of Commerce, Yahya Al-Ishaq, announced on Monday, July 3, 2023, that Iraq had paid all Iranian dues amounting to $10 billion.

[yota691]

Beha_Saleh.. about Iraqi banks sanctioned by America

2 weeks ago

 

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Messenger

The US sanctions against the 14 banks prove that the sober banking companies that people trust in their dealings should be supported instead of fighting them.

Banks, most of which are covered in the name of Islam, and their work is currency smuggling, money laundering, and sabotage of the Iraqi economy and the banking sector.

#Biha _ Saleh

[yota691]

A parliamentarian opens fire on the Central Bank: Laureate smuggles dollars to Iran!

1 week ago

 

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follow-up |..

A member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Muhammad Nuri, said yesterday, Saturday, that the smuggling of the dollar to Iran is carried out by “lorries”, which are (large load wheels)'

 

And he added, during his hosting of the eighth program presented by colleague Ahmed Al-Tayeb and followed by “ Jarida ”, that “the central bank governor does not have a strategy to get out of the dollar crisis, and he did not answer clearly the questions of the members of the Finance Committee.”

 

He pointed out that "the governor of the central bank does not have any plan to solve the dollar crisis."

 

Nuri warned, saying, "The coming days will bring big and heavy surprises regarding the central bank," explaining that "the banks were working to provide cover for smuggling the dollar."

 

He continued, "The punished banks began to buy dollars from the markets to cover smuggling requests for dollars."

 

Nuri pointed out that "suspicions are hovering about the" dinar "with which the dollar is bought from the central bank," noting that "Iran prints" Iraqi dinars "to buy central bank dollars and then burns."

 

He revealed that "dollar smuggling to Iran is done by" lorries," adding that "Iran is buying dollars from Iraq using fake Iraqi currency."

 

Nuri pointed out that "the budget lost 13 trillion dinars due to the exchange rate cut."

 

Quote

lorries
a large, heavy motor vehicle for transporting goods or troops; a truck.
"a lorry driver"

 

[gregp]

Malaki and the CBI governor need to find a cliff

[T B]

yea i bin saying that since the last 15 years now! guess im not there judge lord, but you know them by there fruits the word says! us ole dudes are rude i guess!~ ha! ha! love ya all, be blessed soon ! 😀

[yota691]

The dilemma of the dollar and black remittances.. An expected "duel" between the "Federal" and new Iraqi banks

Economy _Today, 13:35 |

    

 

Baghdad today - Baghdad

Today, Wednesday (August 9, 2023), the expert in banking affairs, Nasser Al-Kinani, confirmed that banks affiliated with political parties are behind the dollar crisis in Iraq.

Al-Kinani told "Baghdad Today" that "it is no secret to everyone that there are many banks in Iraq belonging to influential political parties and figures, and these banks are the ones causing the dollar crisis in Iraq, as they work on black transfers and some illegal banking movements."

 

And he indicated that "the political protection of some of these banks is a reason why they are not held accountable by the competent Iraqi authorities," noting that "US sanctions are imposed on them, to prevent misuse of the dollar currency."

It is likely that "the continuation of the work of these banks outside international standards means imposing new US sanctions on new banks during the next stage."

 

Dollar battle 

In early August, Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' al-Sudani revealed the details of the dollar crisis, which he described as a "battle", announcing at the same time the arrest of a network of "major speculators" linked to speculators in the Kurdistan region.

 

Last July, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 14 Iraqi banks, in a move described as a "campaign" against Iran's dealings in dollars .

 

The Wall Street Journal quoted US officials as saying: "The move came after the disclosure of information indicating that the targeted banks were involved in money laundering and fraudulent transactions ."

 

The newspaper added, "Some of these operations may relate to individuals subject to sanctions, which increases fears that Iran will benefit from it ."

 

"The main danger of sanctions in Iraq is definitely related to Iran, " the US official added.

 

With names.. 14 Iraqi banks punished 

 

“Baghdad Today” learned that the sanctions affected banks (the Islamic Advisor for Investment and Finance, the Islamic Qartas for Investment and Finance, as well as the Islamic Spectrum, Elaf Bank, Erbil Bank for Investment and Finance, the International Islamic Bank, Trans-Iraq Bank, Mosul Bank for Development and Investment, Al-Rajeh Bank, Sumer Commercial Bank, Trust International Islamic Bank, and Ur Islamic Bank And the Islamic World Bank for Investment and Finance, as well as Zain Iraq Islamic Bank for Investment and Finance.

 

The currency market is experiencing unprecedented confusion, which called on merchants and bankers to stop selling the dollar in light of the accelerating disparity, hoping to limit potential huge losses, which could put the government in an embarrassing position.