Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq is holding direct talks with the United States and Iran to secure uninterrupted passage for tankers carrying Iraqi crude through the Strait of Hormuz, lawmaker Zainab al-Khazraji told Shafaq News on Sunday.
Al-Khazraji, a member of parliament's Oil, Gas, and Natural Resources Committee, said Baghdad was engaging both sides because different shipping routes through the strait “were controlled by US and Iranian forces.”
The talks are aimed at securing permanent, rather than temporary, passage for tankers carrying Iraqi crude and shielding exports from regional security disruptions.
Al-Khazraji noted that Iraq's oil exports have risen by 60% after falling below one million barrels per day at the start of the war. Shipments subsequently recovered to around 1.5 million bpd and have now exceeded two million bpd.
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She expected exports to continue recovering toward three million bpd, which would “increase state revenue and help fund public-sector salaries in the coming months.”
Iraq, which derives about 90% of state revenue from oil, produced around four million bpd before the war with Iran began on Feb. 28 and exported an average of 105 million barrels per month, mostly from southern terminals in Basra through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway previously carried about 20% of global energy supplies.
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Iran's closure of the strait forced Iraq to halt production at most fields as storage capacity filled, leaving Baghdad reliant on limited alternative export routes, including tanker trucks through Syria and the pipeline through Turkiye to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
The strait briefly reopened after a memorandum of understanding with Washington in June, before Tehran again restricted shipping following the resumption of hostilities in early July.
Iraq exported about 49 million barrels of crude in July, more than 30 million of them through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Oil Ministry.
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