Iraq should be exempted from U.S. sanctions against Iran because of the heavy reliance of the former on the latter for gas and electricity supplies, a senior Iraqi official told a Kuwaiti newspaper, as quoted by news agency Mehr. “Iraq is connected to Iran given the longest common borders, high trade volume between the two countries, as well as the electric power for the gas stations,” Ali Abdul Karim al-Mousawi, Director General of the Iraqi Gas Company, a state entity, said. Earlier this month, S&P Global Platts reported that Iraq was lobbying for a sanctions exemption with Washington since Iranian electricity and gas used in electricity generation accounted for as much as a third of Iraq’s electricity distribution. This amounts to some 5,000 MW of power produced at plants fed Iranian natural gas as well as 1,000 MW in electricity imports. The electricity issue is a vital one for […]