Iran granted special permission for a number of Iraqi oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following repeated requests from Baghdad. The diplomatic breakthrough comes as Iraq scrambles to keep its oil-dependent economy afloat amid the ongoing regional war and a broader maritime blockade.
Baghdad has spent weeks scrambling to secure export routes as the regional conflict drags on. Iraqi officials pressed for exemptions during high-level diplomatic exchanges, pointing to the severe economic toll the waterway’s effective closure has inflicted on their country. While broader traffic in the strait remains significantly below pre-war levels, the new arrangement offers a narrow lifeline for Iraqi crude.
Diplomatic Pressure and the Push for Special Access in Baghdad
The diplomatic push intensified when Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived for a visit to Iraq for high-level talks. During the visit, Haibat al-Halbousi called on Ghalibaf to grant special consideration for Iraq’s oil exports through the contested waterway. Iraqi state media reported that obtaining these special exemptions was a primary objective for Baghdad during the negotiations.
Iraqi President Nizar Amidi confirmed that Iran had facilitated the passage of some ships carrying Iraqi oil through the strait in recent days. Speaking at the Baghdad Dialogue policy conference, Amidi emphasized that the waterway’s stability impacts far more than just domestic commerce.
President Nizar Amidi stated via Al Jazeera that it affected the whole world, not only Iraq.
Amidi also reiterated that Baghdad remains engaged in ongoing talks with Tehran over complex problems in the strait. At the same time, the Iraqi government faces intense external pressure. The administration is navigating demands from Washington to disarm powerful militias with links to Iran, with Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi setting a September 30 deadline for armed groups to surrender their weapons and integrate into state security.
Strategic Calculations Behind Tehran’s Exemptions
Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Tehran, noted that Iran views Baghdad as a friendly state because Iraq has always stood up to the United States.
According to Khoshcheshm, the move is designed to penalize Gulf states accused of allowing American forces to use local military bases for attacks against Iran—allegations that regional governments deny—while rewarding Baghdad’s diplomatic positioning.
Despite these bilateral arrangements, the broader maritime situation remains highly volatile. Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, characterized the wider outlook as a holding pattern affecting all nations.
Tohid Asadi, an Al Jazeera correspondent, reported that the situation at the Strait of Hormuz remained still vague as Iran had been involved in talks with Oman to find the arrangements for the reopening of the strait, adding that so far, no deal had been reached, regardless of the good progress that Iran had been talking about, and that obviously – speaking of the larger context – the United States was another determinant when it comes to the closure of the strait, as the Iranians were saying that as long as the naval blockade continued, the strait was going to remain closed.
Diversifying Export Routes Beyond the Blockade
Before the outbreak of the US-Israel war on Iran, Iraq produced approximately 4 million barrels of oil per day. The sudden constriction of the Strait of Hormuz hit the nation’s oil-dependent economy, forcing officials to scramble for alternative outlets.
To reduce its vulnerability to the ongoing naval blockade, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced that Baghdad is actively working to expand exports through Turkiye’s Ceyhan port. In addition, the government is pursuing plans to begin exporting oil through Syria’s Baniyas port and Jordan’s Aqaba port as part of a push to keep crude flowing to international markets.
