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Rudaw Net
3 days ago
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Iraq facing worst drought in over 90 years: UN
Also in Iraq Iraq denies oil smuggling after US sanctions Iran-linked network Flights to resume at Mosul airport in 2 months after 11-year hiatus Iraq says 'committed' to receiving 230,000 barrels of oil daily from KRG KRG delegation in Baghdad for salary talks after oil export deal A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq is experiencing its worst drought since 1933, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative said on Saturday. Farmland available for cultivation has been halved and rural families are being driven from their homes. The entire region has been affected by drought, but Iraq is bearing the brunt of the crisis, Salah Haj told Rudaw's Bakhtiar Aziz. 'Iraq's preparations and infrastructure are not adequate considering these challenges. The negative effects first hit the wetlands, where the drying rate has reached over 70 percent - a very dangerous level,' he said. Sandstorms have worsened the situation for buffalo herders, many of whom have left their villages as wetlands shrink. Farmland cultivation has also dropped by half, forcing farmers to seek livelihoods elsewhere. Haj urged Iraq to modernize its irrigation systems, water storage, and planting methods to conserve water and called for a substantial budget and targeted programs to combat drought and desertification. FAO is working with the federal and Kurdistan Regional governments on water projects, including restoring a water-sensing system in Erbil to optimize irrigation times. Haj said the Kurdistan Region's situation is better than the rest of Iraq's. Iraq's water crisis is caused by reduced precipitation, rising temperatures, and mismanagement. The lack of a comprehensive water-sharing agreement with neighbors Turkey and Iran, who have built dams on shared rivers, has deepened the crisis. More than 17,000 families have left Iraq's southern provinces over the past decade due to drought and desertification, Ali Abbas, spokesperson for the Migration and Displaced Ministry, said in July.
Rudaw Net
4 days ago
- Business
- Rudaw Net
Iraq denies oil smuggling after US sanctions Iran-linked network
Also in Iraq Flights to resume at Mosul airport in 2 months after 11-year hiatus Iraq says 'committed' to receiving 230,000 barrels of oil daily from KRG KRG delegation in Baghdad for salary talks after oil export deal KRG to resume oil exports after new agreement with Iraq A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq's oil marketing agency on Friday denied reports of smuggling or blending Iraqi oil with that of neighboring countries, after United States sanctions targeted an Iraqi-linked network accused of disguising Iranian oil. "Talk about the existence of places that allow the smuggling of Iraqi oil and blending it with the oil of neighboring countries is untrue," Ali Nizar Faiq, general director of the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), told state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA). "There are no blending or smuggling operations inside Iraqi ports or regional waters,' he added. Last month, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against a network accused of smuggling 'billions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil.' The sanctions target companies allegedly controlled by Iraqi-British businessman Salim Ahmed Said, who is accused of using fraudulent documentation and ship-to-ship transfers to disguise Iranian oil as Iraqi, including through blending. 'There is no evidence in any international body that confirms the existence of this kind of blending or smuggling,' Faiq said. The sanctions are part of renewed US pressure on Iran following the reimposition of Washington's 'maximum pressure' policy in February. The July measures came shortly after a 12-day war between Iran and Israel, during which the US struck Iranian nuclear facilities. Kurdistan Region oil exports Faiq also said Iraq is prepared to resume oil exports from the Kurdistan Region once producing companies begin deliveries. SOMO 'has completed all preparations, and has completed contracts with the purchasing companies, and is fully prepared to start exporting oil from the region as soon as the producing companies in the region start delivering the produced quantities,' he said. Under a recent agreement between Erbil and Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) committed to exporting its oil - about 230,000 barrels per day - through SOMO. In return, Baghdad agreed to release delayed salaries for the KRG's public servants. Kurdistan Region's oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been halted since March 2023, when a Paris-based arbitration court ruled Ankara had violated a 1973 agreement by allowing the KRG to export oil independently starting in 2014. Talks between Baghdad, Erbil, and international oil companies continue about a long-term framework to fully restore the Region's exports.
