Iran opens 2 accounts to get gas and electricity money back from Iraq

By  Trend

Iran is set to open 2 bank accounts for getting back the money from its gas and electricity exports to Iraq, Hamid Hosseini, Secretary General of Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, told ISNA, Trend reports.

Hosseini said that Iran has already made a decision on this issue, adding that Iraq will pay for electricity and gas in euros if it can, and in Iraqi dinars if not.

"The Iraqi side has openly stated to the US that it is impossible to stop gas imports from Iran," he said.

Noting that Iran is insistent on the gas debt to be paid in euros and the electricity debt in dollars, Hosseini added that, according to the deal between the Central Bank of Iran and the Iraqi side, the debt will be paid either in euros or in dinars.

The withdrawal of the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) in May 2018, as well as the new sanctions against Iran in place since November, have affected the Iranian-Iraqi gas deals.

The US forbade Iraq continuing importing gas from Iran – a matter which left Iraq facing a dilemma, as there is no other country to supply Iraq with gas at least for the next few years. It is therefore that Iraq has been exempted from the sanctions for gas imports from Iran.