mniraq - Economic expert Ziad al-Hashemi warned on Wednesday (September 9, 2026) against circulating parliamentary statements regarding the existence of payments made by the Iraqi government to Iran in exchange for the passage of Iraqi oil through the Strait of Hormuz, considering that such statements may mislead public opinion and implicate the government in inaccurate positions.
Al-Hashemi said in a post that there is no payment mechanism linking the Iraqi government with the Iranian side to pay money in any currency, let alone the dollar, which does not reach the hands of the Iraqi government in the first place, but remains in Federal Reserve accounts, from where it is transferred to external parties that are not sanctioned or restricted after American auditing.
He added that Iraqi oil is already sold at price discounts for loading from Basra terminals, considering this evidence that this method is adopted by the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) to encourage ships to enter the strait and reach Basra to load oil.
