Iraq may have serious problems in securing its energy needs if the United States doesn’t extend a waiver for an Iraqi bank to process payments for Iraq’s imports of electricity and natural gas from Iran, the head of the Iraqi bank told AFP on Tuesday. Major Iraqi power plants are dependent on Iranian natural gas supply, and Iraq imports electricity from Iran, as Baghdad’s power generation is not enough to ensure domestic supply. The U.S. has regularly extended the waivers for Iraq to continue buying natural gas and electricity from Iran, even after the U.S. slapped sanctions on Iran and continued to ramp up those sanctions over the past year. The waiver for the Iraqi bank handling the payments to Iran in Iraqi dinars expires next month. If the U.S. doesn’t extend the waiver, the bank— Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI)—will stop processing payments, the head of the bank […]