2024-01-23T10:45:41+00:00
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/ On Tuesday, economic expert Nabil Al-Marsoumi described the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department on Fly Baghdad Airlines as an “American economic warning to Iraq.”
Al-Marsoumi said in a statement received by Agency, “Both the President of the United States and Congress have the authority to issue sanctions, as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 allows the President to do so with great ease, and Washington has pushed the United Nations to impose sanctions on groups and individuals in 180 countries.”
He pointed out that the United States adopts four methods in its economic sanctions, which are:
1. Freezing: Confiscating the state’s assets abroad and freezing the accounts of state institutions and individuals accused of involvement in making decisions that intersect with American interests.
2. Financial restrictions: exclusion from the SWIFT financial transfer system for sending money across the world, which is used by several thousand financial institutions in more than 200 countries. This sanction has been used before against Iran and Russia after its war against Ukraine.
3. Exclusion from dollar clearing: Banning financial transactions involving the use of US dollars and penalizing any Western company that deals with companies of the sanctioned state.
4. Preventing access to global debt markets: This is a measure that would deprive the country of financing for economic development, and the cost of borrowing in the country may increase and the value of the national currency may decrease.
Al-Marsoumi pointed out that if military operations in Iraq expand, Iraq could be subject to the following sanctions:
1. Stopping the delivery of dollars to Iraq, as American laws such as the “Punishing America’s Enemies Act” allow it not to deliver dollars to some countries, which will greatly reduce the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar against the dollar, and we may witness a major collapse of the Iraqi dinar, which will eventually lead to rampant inflation that will remind us of the American blockade on Iraq. Iraq’s cash reserves in American banks may be frozen, and this may extend to Iraq’s large investments in American treasury bonds, which amount to about $34 billion.
2. Refraining from dealing with the Central Bank of Iraq, which leads to the world losing confidence in it and prompts them to stop dealing with the Central Bank of Iraq for technical reasons related to international monetary standards or for reasons related to fear of imposing American sanctions on the party that dealt with the Central Bank of Iraq.
3. Imposing sanctions on Iraqi banks and money transfer companies, which disrupts the economic situation and limits financing of foreign trade.
4. Preventing Iraq from using the SWIFT financial transfer system, which is largely subject to American influence.
5. Stopping the lending, reconstruction and technical assistance programs provided by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to Iraq, as these two organizations are controlled by the United States.
6. Stop granting Iraq the exception to import gas and electricity from Iran, which will lead to the collapse of the electricity system in it.
7. The potential US sanctions will greatly affect the oil sector, as the United States may stop its imports from Iraq, which amount to 400,000 barrels per day, and the sanctions may develop into imposing US sanctions on parties that buy Iraqi oil, which constitutes 93% of public revenues, in addition to foreign oil tankers refraining from loading and transporting Iraqi oil to global markets for fear of being subject to US sanctions, and insurance companies will do the same on Iraqi oil shipments heading abroad.
8. The negative impact on the investment environment in Iraq, represented by the weakening of investor confidence, especially with regard to companies operating in the oil sector, both American and foreign, which will have an impact on Iraq’s ability to produce and export and on oil field development projects, especially those related to investment in associated gas, which Iraq relies on in order to reduce its imports of gas, which is the only source of electricity generation in Iraq, in addition to its negative impact on government economic programs in construction and reconstruction.
Yesterday, Monday, the US Treasury Department announced the inclusion of the Iraqi airline “Fly Baghdad” and its CEO on the sanctions list, for providing assistance to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps “Quds Force” and its proxy groups in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
The Treasury said in a statement translated by Agency, “For several years, Fly Baghdad has supported the operations of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and its proxies by delivering equipment and personnel throughout the region.”
“The company’s flights delivered weapons shipments to Damascus International Airport in Syria, for transfer to members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Quds Force, and Iranian-allied militias on the ground in Syria, including the Syrian Arab Republican Guard, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah,” she added.
According to the US Treasury, Fly Baghdad has delivered a range of weapons to these groups operating in Syria, including Iranian-made Fateh, Zolfaqar and Fajr missiles, as well as AK-47s, RPG-7s, grenades and other machine guns.
As a result, the Central Bank of Iraq began, on Tuesday, to freeze the accounts of the Fly Baghdad air transport company.
An informed source told Agency, “The bank froze the company’s accounts in three major banks in response to US Treasury sanctions,” without mentioning further details.