Iranian natural gas sales are also prohibited under the sanctions, which could scuttle Tehran’s ambition to boost exports of the commodity. Iran holds the second-largest natural-gas reserves in the world. In 2016, after previous sanctions had been lifted, Iran said it hoped to start selling natural gas to the European Union this year. In recent weeks, Iraq has been struggling to continue its natural-gas purchases from Tehran because banks are reluctant to carry the payments ahead of returning U.S. restrictions, according to people close to both sides of the transactions. Iraq was Iran’s most promising gas market because the huge needs of its power plants are fueled by the commodity. “The difficulty in getting gas from Iran now is linked to the issue of transferring money to Iran because of the American sanctions,” Sadoun Shehan, deputy head of media at Iraq’s electricity ministry, told The Wall Street Journal. Tehran […]