04-05-2025
Iraq and Iran's Electricity and Gas Dependencies
By Ahmed Tabaqchali for The Clingendael Institute. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News .
Misery loves company: Iraq and Iran's electricity and gas dependencies
In September 2022, the death of Mahsa Jina Amini marked a major turning point for Iran. The event sparked lengthy nationwide protests across socio-economic classes and population groups whose demands rapidly evolved from discarding controversial hijab regulations to calls for the overthrow the Islamic Republic. The Iranian government responded with repression, killing over 400 protesters in late 2022 and early 2023, according to human rights groups.
The Clingendael blog series 'Iran in transition' explores power dynamics in four critical dimensions that have shaped the country's transformation since: state-society relations, intra-elite dynamics, the economy, and foreign relations. This blog post critically assesses the assumptions underpinning US sanction waivers to Iraq regarding the import of Iranian gas and electricity.
Specifically, it argues that underlying economic realities render these waivers ineffective as instrument of US pressure on Iran and that their revocation is more likely to cause energy supply problems in Iraq.
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