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Alsharq Tribune-Otaify
Iraq resumed importing natural gas from Iran on Sunday at a rate of 5 million cubic meters per day, the electricity ministry said, following a brief suspension for pipeline maintenance.
Ministry spokesman Ahmed Musa told the state-run Iraqi News Agency that the restart has allowed authorities to bring generating units back online at the Besmaya and Mansouriya power plants, which had been stalled by the shortage.
The ministry had announced on Friday that Iran was suspending exports for a week to conduct maintenance on its pipelines.
Despite its vast oil wealth, Iraq remains heavily dependent on Iranian gas to fuel its power grid. The flow is frequently interrupted by technical faults, maintenance work, or disputes over payment arrears, triggering severe and widespread blackouts.
Washington has granted Baghdad repeated sanctions waivers to continue these gas imports since 2018.
However, the U.S. tightened those restrictions in March, removing a waiver that allowed Iraq to import electricity directly from Iran, while leaving the exemption for natural gas in place.
Decades of conflict and corruption have left Iraq struggling with chronic electricity shortages, making the Iranian supply line critical, particularly during peak summer consumption.
