Exclusive: US, Iran plan ‘oil for goods’ deal to ease sanctions

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Iraq in May amid increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran. (AP)
Updated 07 June 2019
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Exclusive: US, Iran plan ‘oil for goods’ deal to ease sanctions

  • Alleged deal to be similar to UN oil-for-food program, US sources deny

BAGHDAD: Iranian and US officials may have reached an initial agreement to smooth the US-imposed sanctions on Iran by allowing Iran to sell hundreds of thousands barrel of oil per day in exchange for certain goods, Iraqi sources told Arab News. 

The unconfirmed deal suggests that export and import operations will be through Iraq, officials in Baghdad familiar with the talks say. 

Iran has been suffering a “suffocated” conditions since US withdraw from the nuclear deal and imposed economic sanctions on Iran. The tension between the two sides is at peak as US threaten to militarily respond if Iran targeted any of the US interests in the Middle East.

The alleged deal which may have been reached between the US and Iranian officials, would have been made in Baghdad in cooperation with the Iraqi side, however several US government sources that Arab News spoke to have denied that such a deal exists between Iran and the US. 

However, according to one senior Iraqi official familiar with what he described as ‘ongoing talks’, the deal could be considered “a good-will gesture offered by the Americans to calm the escalation between the two countries, but it is still in its preliminary stages. 

“The involved parties have agreed on the general lines which state allowing Iran to export a specific amount of oil and getting specific goods in return.
“Iraq will be the transit area for both importing the goods and exporting the oil,” he added. 

Iran has been controlling dozens armed factions operating in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. The activities of these groups have been representing a serious threat to the US and its’ allies in the region.

US-imposed economic sanctions on Iran aim to halt its nuclear program and prevent it from funding and equipping these factions.

“The main goal that the Americans are looking to achieve it is preventing the Iranians from getting any cash money,” a second Iraqi official familiar with the talks told Arab News in condition of anonymity.

“The deal will allow the Americans to monitor and control everything, the amount of the exported Iranian crude oil, the kinds of the imported goods and being sure that no cash will be paid back.
“This will paralyze the Iranians and force them to abandon the armed factions they fund and will keep them busy dealing with the internal Iranian situation,”.

The “initial” deal which has been concluded by Bijan Zanganeh, the Iranian Minister of Oil who was in un announced visit to Iraq lasted for few days, has not became final yet as the three sides have not agreed on the details including the amount of oil, the kind of goods and the key buyer of the Iranian oil, Iraqi officials told Arab News.
The suggested amount of oil which supposed to allow Iran to export a certain amount of barrels per day but “this point still under discussions” two officials at least told Arab News. Also the key buyer in this deal “still one of the disagreement points between the Iranians and Americans”.

“Iranians have suggested one of the European countries as a key buyer but the Americans have refused,” one of the sources who is familiar with the talks told Arab News.

“The confirmed thing so far in this deal is, that Iraq will be the transit area for the exchange operations (import and export), so US can closely monitor the commitment of the Iranians,”.

Oil for goods

The alleged agreement, which is still in its early stages of negotiations, is inspired by the oil-for-food program implemented in Iraq in 1995 by a Security Council resolution to ease the impact of the economic embargo imposed on Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s. The oil-for-food program allowed Iraq to export a quantity of its oil in return for securing the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people under the supervision of the United Nations.

“The targeted shape of the suggested deal is almost a copy of the oil – for – food program which used to apply in Iraq in 1990s, but Iraq will replace the UN as the supervisor of procurement and receipt and disbursement of funds received,” a prominent Shiite leader and a member of the Oil and Power parliamentary committee familiar with the talks told Arab News.
“The proposal is to open a bank account in the Iraqi Central Bank in favor of Iran to deposit the money obtained from the sale of Iranian oil and then Iraq to pay bills of Iranian purchases later using this money.

“This mechanism will enable the Americans to follow the dollar closely and monitor Iran's disbursements,”.

Iraq has been importing 1100 MW of electricity per day from Iran since years, in addition to 28 million cubic meters of gas oil which secure another 4,000 MW.

Iran stopped supplying Iraq with electricity and gas oil last summer because of the inability of Iraq to pay its dues as a result of US financial sanctions imposed on Iran. The resulted serious shortage of electricity led to the outbreak of angry and violent demonstrations in the Shiite-dominated provinces in southern Iraq. At least 17 people including a number of security forces were killed and many government and party offices, including the Iranian consulate were burned.

A prominent Shiite leader familiar with the deal told Arab News that the negotiations started less than a month ago in Baghdad and the deal included maintaining all the contracts that Iran was signed before imposing the sanctions with European, Chines and Asian  companies to supply medical substances and spare  parts fo the oil and industry and Iraq will financially cover these contracts from the deposit money in the suggested bank account
To bypass US sanctions and ensure they are not breached, the Iraqi government last year has opened a bank account at the Central Bank of Iraq on behalf of Iran to deposit the money owed by Iraq and then use it to pay Iranian purchase bills to other countries, Iraqi officials said.
“The proposed opening of the bank account, the receipt of the sold oil money and the payment of the invoices of Iran’s purchases, among the points agreed upon,” another member of the oil and power parliamentary committee, said.


Syrian state news agency reports Israeli strike in Aleppo region

Updated 09 November 2024
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Syrian state news agency reports Israeli strike in Aleppo region

  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported that the strikes had targeted military installations

 

DAMASCUS: Syrian state media reported an Israeli strike Saturday on the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib that injured soldiers and caused damage.
“At around 00:45 after midnight, the Israeli army launched an air aggression from the direction of southeast Aleppo, targeting a number of sites in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib,” the official SANA news agency said.
The report added that the attack had “resulted in the injury of a number of soldiers and some material losses,” without providing further details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported the strikes had targeted military installations.
The war monitor also said members of the Iranian revolutionary guards and pro-Tehran factions were based in the area.
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Hezbollah.
The Israeli military has intensified its strikes on Syria since it launched its war on Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on the strikes but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria.
 

 


 


UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead

Updated 09 November 2024
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UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead

  • The report detailed a raft of violations of international law since Oct. 7

GENEVA: The UN on Friday condemned the staggering number of civilians killed in Israel’s war in Gaza, with women and children comprising nearly 70 percent of the thousands of fatalities it had managed to verify.
In a fresh report, slammed by Israel, the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) detailed a raft of violations of international law since Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack in Israel sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
Many could amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly even “genocide,” it warned, demanding international efforts to prevent “atrocity crimes” and ensure accountability.
“Civilians in Gaza have borne the brunt of the attacks, including through the initial ‘complete siege’ of Gaza by Israeli forces,” the UN said.
“Conduct by Israeli forces has caused unprecedented levels of killings, death, injury, starvation, illness and disease.”
It pointed to “the Israeli government’s continuing unlawful failures to allow, facilitate and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and repeated mass displacement.”
Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva “categorically” rejected the report, decrying “the inherent obsession of OHCHR with the demonization of Israel.”
“Gaza is now a rubble-strewn landscape,” Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN rights office’s activities in the Palestinian territories, said via video-link from Amman.
“Within this dystopia of destruction and devastation, those alive are left injured, displaced and starving.”
Friday’s report also found that Hamas and other armed groups had committed widespread violations that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including seizing hostages, killings, torture and sexual violence.
Those violations, it said, were especially committed in connection with the October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly of civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
The report also tackled the contentious issue of the proportion of civilians among the nearly 43,500 people killed in Gaza so far, according to the health ministry in the Palestinian territory.
UN agencies have been relying on death tolls provided by the authorities in Hamas-run Gaza due to lack of access. This has sparked harsh criticism from Israel but the UN has repeatedly said the figures are reliable.
The rights office said it had now managed to verify around 10,000 of the more than 34,500 people reportedly killed during the first six months of the war.
“We have so far found close to 70 percent to be children and women,” Sunghay said, highlighting the stringent verification methodology that requires at least three separate sources.
He said the findings indicated “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”
He said 4,700 of the verified fatalities were children and 2,461 were women.
The rights office found that about 80 percent of all the verified deaths in Gaza had occurred in Israeli attacks on residential buildings or similar housing.
Children between the ages of five and nine made up the largest group of victims, with the youngest victim a one-day-old boy and the oldest a 97-year-old woman, it said.
Israel says its operations in Gaza target militants and are in line with international law.
But Friday’s report stressed that the verified deaths largely Gaza’s demographic makeup rather than that of combatants.
This, it said, clearly “raises concerns regarding compliance with the principle of distinction and reflect an apparent failure to take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental loss of civilian life.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk called on all countries to work to halt the violations and to ensure accountability, including through universal jurisdiction.
“It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies,” he said.
“The violence must stop immediately, the hostages and those arbitrarily detained must be released, and we must focus on flooding Gaza with humanitarian aid.”


After Hamas rejection of hostage deal, US asked Qatar to expel the group

Updated 09 November 2024
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After Hamas rejection of hostage deal, US asked Qatar to expel the group

  • Negotiators from Israel’s Mossad spy agency have repeatedly met mediators in Doha over the last year and Qatari government officials have shuttled back-and-forth to Hamas leaders in the political office

WASHINGTON/DOHA: The US has told Qatar that the presence of Hamas in Doha is no longer acceptable in the weeks since the Palestinian militant group rejected the latest proposal to achieve a ceasefire and a hostage deal, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday.
“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner. We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Qatar then made the demand to Hamas leaders about 10 days ago, the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. Washington has been in touch with Qatar over when to close the political office of Hamas, and it told Doha that now was the time following the group’s rejection of the recent proposal.
Three Hamas officials denied Qatar had told Hamas leaders they were no longer welcome in the country.
Qatar, alongside the US and Egypt, has played a major role in rounds of so-far fruitless talks to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages the militant group is holding in the enclave.
The latest round of Doha talks in mid-October failed to reach a ceasefire, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal.
The spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for confirmation or comment.
Last year, a senior US official said Qatar had told Washington it was open to
reconsidering the presence of Hamas
in the country once the Gaza war was over.
This came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
told leaders
in Qatar and elsewhere in the region that there could be “no more business as usual” with Hamas after the group led the Oct. 7 attacks on Southern Israel.
Qatar, an influential Gulf state designated as major non-NATO ally by Washington, has hosted Hamas’ political leaders since 2012 as part of an agreement with the US Doha has come under criticism from within the US and Israel over its ties to Hamas since Oct. 7.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said repeatedly over the last year that the Hamas office exists in Doha to allow negotiations with the group and that as long as the channel remained useful Qatar would allow the Hamas office to remain open.
Negotiators from Israel’s Mossad spy agency have repeatedly met mediators in Doha over the last year and Qatari government officials have shuttled back-and-forth to Hamas leaders in the political office.

 

 


US defense chief holds first call with new Israeli counterpart

Updated 09 November 2024
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US defense chief holds first call with new Israeli counterpart

  • Katz was sworn in before parliament the previous day
  • The US defense chief also discussed “the need to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza“

WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed Lebanon and Gaza on Friday in his first call with his new Israeli counterpart Israel Katz, the Pentagon said.
Katz was sworn in before parliament the previous day, after his predecessor’s shock dismissal by the prime minister over a breakdown in trust during the war in Gaza — a conflict that began with a devastating Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
Austin “held an introductory call today with the new Israeli minister of defense, Israel Katz, and congratulated him on his recent appointment,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said in a statement.
He told Katz that Washington is committed to a deal that allows Lebanese and Israeli citizens displaced by more than a year of cross-border violence to return to their homes, as well as to the return of hostages seized by Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ryder said.
The US defense chief also discussed “the need to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza,” after he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israel in a letter earlier this month that it needed to allow more aid into the small war-wracked coastal territory.


Palestinian leader tells Trump ready to work for Gaza peace

Mahmud Abbas told Donald Trump he was ready to work toward a “just and comprehensive peace” in Gaza. (Reuters)
Updated 09 November 2024
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Palestinian leader tells Trump ready to work for Gaza peace

RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas expressed readiness to work toward a “just and comprehensive peace” in Gaza during a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, his office said.
Trump’s victory came with the Middle East in turmoil after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, triggered by the unprecedented attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Congratulating Trump on his victory, Abbas expressed “readiness to work with President Trump to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on international legitimacy,” his office said in a statement.
It said that Trump also assured Abbas that he will work to end the war.
“President Trump stressed that he will work to stop the war, and his readiness to work with president Abbas and the concerned parties in the region and the world to make peace in the region.”
While Trump struck a note of peace during his campaign, he also touted his status as Israel’s strongest ally, even going so far as to promise Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he would “finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.