Iraq denies US halt to dollar shipments
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq’s Central Bank (CBI) has not received any notification from Washington about suspending dollar shipments, a senior official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The official said a cash shipment expected in April has yet to arrive, while the status of another scheduled for May remains unclear.
Separately, a source in the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said Washington warned Baghdad through diplomatic channels it would no longer tolerate “the government’s failure to curb Iran-aligned armed groups.” The warning referenced attacks attributed to Iraqi armed factions on US targets, including repeated strikes on the US Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in the Kurdistan Region, as well as drone and missile attacks across the region.
Read more: 650 Strikes in Iraqi Kurdistan: How deniability became a weapon
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration of US President Donald Trump had suspended dollar shipments to Iraq and frozen funding for certain security cooperation programs. The report cited officials as saying the US Treasury recently blocked the transfer of about $500 million in cash -proceeds from Iraqi oil sales held at the Federal Reserve in New York- over concerns related to Iraqi armed factions.
Read more: Iraqi Armed factions' cross-border attacks draw legal warnings and Arab pressure
