Tehran has concluded an agreement on power interconnection with Baghdad, Iranian Minister says

Shafaq News/ Iran, a top power producer in Western Asia, has concluded an agreement with Iraq on power interconnection, the Islamic Republic's Minister of Electricity said on Tuesday.

In an interview with Fars News Agency, Ali Akbar Mehrabian said Iran relies on its high electricity production capacity as well as its indigenous technical know-how for exports, construction, upgrading, repairing, and maintenance of power grids.

Mehrabian said Iran pursues an 'electricity diplomacy', "in addition to solving the problems of the neighboring countries in this sector, the grounds would be prepared for generating a steady flow of income and using the maximum capacity of the country’s electricity grid."

The minister also said Iran has signed its first long-term electricity contract with Iraq in line with this policy, explaining, "there have been several fields of cooperation between Iran and Iraq, including the numerous contracts for construction and development of power plants and maintenance of the existing electricity production units."

Despite US sanctions, Iran is a main source of energy for Iraq as the latter relies on the Islamic Republic for 45 percent of its 14,000 megawatts of its daily electricity consumption.

Iran's electricity grid is currently connected to several neighboring countries, with plans underway to link up to Qatar.