BAGHDAD/DUBAI: A US diplomat will attend a planned meeting in Baghdad on Thursday on the resumption of Kurdish oil exports via Turkiye’s Ceyhan pipeline, five sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, as Washington continues to push for a restart.
The Iraqi oil ministry is hosting the talks on accelerating a resumption in oil exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan region. They have been delayed till Thursday due to disagreements over terms between oil firms and the oil ministry.
One of the sources, an Iraqi oil ministry official with direct knowledge of the meeting, said the planned attendance of the diplomat, based at the US embassy in Baghdad, had come in response to a request from Washington.
The White House National Security Office did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
“The presence of the US diplomat aims to help push the negotiations forward and reach solutions to the issues hindering the resumption of oil exports in a way that satisfies all parties,” the oil ministry official said.
Reuters revealed last month that Iraq has come under increasing US
pressure
to allow Kurdish oil exports via Turkiye, thereby boosting supply to the global market at a time when Washington wants to reduce Iranian oil exports as part of its efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran views its neighbor and ally Iraq as vital for keeping its economy afloat amid international sanctions.
But Baghdad, a partner of both the United States and Iran, is wary of getting caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s policy of squeezing Tehran, sources have told Reuters.
“There is strong insistence from the US side on ensuring the success of the negotiations (on resuming Kurdish oil exports) by any means,” said a government official close to the talks. “We hope that the US role will help reach a reasonable and acceptable agreement for the Iraqi government.”
US pushes for Kurdish oil exports resumption at Baghdad meeting
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US pushes for Kurdish oil exports resumption at Baghdad meeting
Over 2,200 Daesh detainees transferred to Iraq from Syria: Iraqi official
- Iraq is still recovering from the severe abuses committed by the terrorists
BAGHDAD: Iraq has so far received 2,225 Daesh group detainees, whom the US military began transferring from Syria last month, an Iraqi official told AFP on Saturday.
They are among up to 7,000 Daesh detainees whose transfer from Syria to Iraq the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced last month, in a move it said was aimed at “ensuring that the terrorists remain in secure detention facilities.”
Previously, they had been held in prisons and camps administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.
The announcement of the transfer plan last month came after US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack declared that the SDF’s role in confronting Daesh had come to an end.
Saad Maan, head of the security information cell attached to the Iraqi prime minister’s office, told AFP on Saturday that “Iraq has received 2,225 terrorists from the Syrian side by land and air, in coordination with the international coalition,” which Washington has led since 2014 to fight Daesh.
He said they are being held in “strict, regular detention centers.”
A Kurdish military source confirmed to AFP the “continued transfer of Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq under the protection of the international coalition,” using another name for Daesh.
On Saturday, an AFP photographer near the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria saw a US military convoy and 11 buses with tinted windows.
- Iraq calls for repatriation -
Daesh seized swathes of northern and western Iraq starting in 2014, until Iraqi forces, backed by the international coalition, managed to defeat it in 2017.
Iraq is still recovering from the severe abuses committed by the terrorists.
In recent years, Iraqi courts have issued death and life sentences against those convicted of terrorism offenses.
Thousands of Iraqis and foreign nationals convicted of membership in the group are incarcerated in Iraqi prisons.
On Monday, the Iraqi judiciary announced it had begun investigative procedures involving 1,387 detainees it received as part of the US military’s operation.
In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency on Saturday, Maan said “the established principle is to try all those involved in crimes against Iraqis and those belonging to the terrorist Daesh organization before the competent Iraqi courts.”
Among the detainees being transferred to Iraq are Syrians, Iraqis, Europeans and holders of other nationalities, according to Iraqi security sources.
Iraq is calling on the concerned countries to repatriate their citizens and ensure their prosecution.
Maan noted that “the process of handing over the terrorists to their countries will begin once the legal requirements are completed.”
