Release of 3 Billion Dollars of Iran’s Assets in Iraq

“Al-Ishaq,” the head of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, announced the release of 3 billion dollars of Iran’s assets in Iraq.

Reports published on social media indicate the release of Iran’s claims that had been blocked in Iraq. According to statements by “Al-Ishaq,” the head of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, part of Iran’s claims in Iraq have been released, with some of these blocked Iranian assets allocated for the needs of pilgrims and the remainder used to meet essential goods supplies.

“Vahid Hajipour,” an active journalist, commented on this news by posting a message on his Twitter page: “With Iran’s conviction in international arbitration, a ruling was issued that 1.6 billion dollars of debt to Turkmenistan must be settled from blocked assets. The United States also issued this permission, and Iraq’s TBI bank, according to the international ruling, deposited this money into the Turkmen accounts. However, the Oil Minister announced that through energy diplomacy, our claims from Iraq were collected.”

“Javad Oji,” the Oil Minister, also announced the release of Iran’s claims from Iraq on his personal Twitter page at noon on Saturday, June 20. In the aforementioned tweet, he wrote: “Fortunately, through active energy diplomacy and after several months of negotiations, 1.6 billion dollars of overdue claims from previous years for gas exports to Iraq was collected hours ago. From the beginning of this year compared to last year, the country’s gas export volume has increased by 25 percent and the collection of foreign exchange revenues from it has increased by 90 percent.”

The publication of these reports indicates that the Islamic Republic government once again, through its deceptions, obtained funds in Iraq that belong to the Iranian people. Of course, the release of this amount under the pretext of debt to Turkmenistan serves the interests of the Islamic Republic government. Previously, the Islamic Republic system had imported numerous weapons for the production of military equipment into Iran by circumventing sanctions and with the participation of some countries to import military equipment. Now, under the pretext of debt to Turkmenistan, it has released the blocked dollars in Iraq that belonged to its people.