Abadi changes tone on Iran, saying Iraq won’t fully comply with the US sanctions

Tabnak – Iraqi Prime Minister’s recent remarks on adhering to the US sanctions in interactions with Tehran sparked many controversies in Iran. Now, in an apparent change of tone, he says Baghdad will be just partly committed to the sanctions.

In this vein, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says his government will only refrain from using the dollar in transactions with Iran without complying with the full scope of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

"Our commitment in the Iran issue is to not use the dollar currency in transaction, not abiding by the US sanctions," state television quoted the premier as telling a news conference in Baghdad on Monday.

Asked if Baghdad would stop imports of commodities, appliances and equipment by government companies from Iran he said the matter was still being reviewed. “We honestly have not made any decision regarding this issue until now.”

Abadi's remarks came in contradiction to those he made last week when he said Iraq did not agree with the US sanctions on Iran, but it would abide by them to safeguard its own interests, triggering widespread criticisms.

"As a matter of principle, we are against sanctions in the region. Blockade and sanctions destroy societies and do not weaken regimes," he said at a news conference on Tuesday.

"We consider them (sanctions on Iran) a strategic mistake and incorrect, but we will abide by them to protect the interests of our people. We will not interact with them or support them, but we will abide by them," he added.

Almonitor notes in a report that after Abadi said Iraq would abide by US sanctions, several Iranian officials raised their voices against Iraq, calling it traitorous and demanding the country pay compensation for damages caused in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War that took place under Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006.

Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also criticized Abadi, saying, “US sanctions on Iran are a flagrant violation of international law” and Iraq must not abide by them, just as it did not abide by earlier US sanctions on Syria.

On the other hand, The New York Times reported on Sunday that Iran has cancelled a visit by Iraq's prime minister after his recent remarks on the US sanctions. Abadi was to visit Iran and Turkey later this week. While his Turkey visit, beginning Tuesday, will go ahead as planned, the visit to Iran was canceled.

Almonitor believes that the rising tensions between Iran and Iraq regarding the US sanctions against Iran indicate that Iran will use all its means to bring one of its allies to head the new Iraqi government in order to prevent Iraq from getting closer to the United States.